


Once Upon A Valentine

by God_of_Insanity, obsidians



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst and Humor, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Both men have been hurt, Characters may be a bit OOC, Deal With It, Downward Dog, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Not really enemies but they rub each other wrong at first, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Attempted Murder, Past Relationship(s), Sephiroth does YOGA, Sephiroth is a Super Eco Warrior with OCD issues, Sephiroth works out and OCD's a lot, Smut, Some Past Violence, Some Sexual Tension/Frustration, Surprise Butt Sex, Tags May Change, Vincent Pervs a bit, Vincent drinks and kisses a lot, Vincent is a bit of an Asshole with Anger Management Issues, Yep Lulu is a DUDE in this, m/m - Freeform, mentions of cheating, past stalking, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-09-27 14:11:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10024244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/God_of_Insanity/pseuds/God_of_Insanity, https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsidians/pseuds/obsidians
Summary: By Fate, or due to human error, both Vincent Valentine and Sephiroth Crescent, complete strangers and desperately needing to get away for a couple weeks, are both booked with the same Suite at the resort. Due to Carnival, there are no other rooms available and both are forced to share the same Suite whether they like it or not.





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> Another co-op story, as I call it, between obsidians and I. It was originally her idea and we both ran with it. It was fun to write and we hope you enjoy it.

Sephiroth stood in his huge mansion that he hadn't wanted or needed but had bought because his capacious lover had insisted they deserved it. Yet it stood symbolically empty as his heart felt. He felt sorrow when he looked at the empty half of the closet that used to bulge with his ex-boyfriend's designer clothes in the various shades of blue he so loved to wear.

Now it felt like his heart was a gaping wound at the betrayal of the one and only person he had ever loved. It was like shards of glass were driven into the swiftly beating organ inside his chest, amplifying his pain until he longed to scream out and wail his anguish to the world, but that was not his way. Self-control to the point to appearing like he was an automaton to the rest of the world was.

Sephiroth was a highly controlled individual, as he had been shaped to be from childhood. He had been born to almost reclusive, socially awkward older parents who had never wanted children and didn't know what to do when Sephiroth was born to them. To be fair, he had never been neglected or abused but had never felt loved either; it was like he was the tolerated pet of a beloved dead relative looked after out of loyalty. His needs were attended to and that had to be enough for him. At the age of five, he was sent to boarding school and saw his parents only during holidays, they never came to visit him.

He remained there until he was brought home, at what he assumed was an acceptable age to his parents of fifteen. They didn't seem to know what to make of the strangely beautiful boy with long silver hair and preternaturally pale skin. They had seemed to care enough about him earlier in life to get him tested to see if he had Albinism, but it was medically proven that he didn't. His exotic appearance was finally put down to him having a genetic anomaly. Sephiroth hated having his hair cut, it was almost a phobia with him. Finally, his parents just stopped asking him to cut it and it lengthened as he grew and he parted his bangs in the middle when they got too long.

Sephiroth hadn't been a rebellious teenager in the least, he was quiet and socially awkward and made few friends but got good grades. He got into body building soon after joining his high school.

 He had his own life and his parents had theirs.

He noticed from his place on the fringe of teenaged society, that while most of his peers' budding sexuality had them gawking at the opposite sex, that he was gawking at his own gender and this made him feel like even more of a freak. He had many admirers despite being socially inept because he was handsome, if not beautiful despite his odd appearance and shyly turned them all down. Until a popular boy invited him to his place for dinner and explained to him in the privacy of his room that he, Cloud, was gay as well and there was no shame in it. Cloud changed his life and was his first real love after he gently took Sephiroth's virginity in the tall grass beside a lake. They were together all through high school and Sephiroth's parents didn't seem shocked when he came out to them, they accepted it with the same indifference they had everything else about his life.

Cloud and Sephiroth broke up when they went to separate universities, both too rational to think that their love would survive four years of separation. Sephiroth threw himself into his studies and working out, he wasn't vain about his appearance, he just liked the feeling of challenging his limits and the natural rush of an endorphin high. He didn't go to parties or drink like other students, he was shy and studious and kept to himself. He graduated in three years, rather than four with a degree in pharmacy and was hired right out of school by a top firm. Making it necessary that he move distantly from his parents, making it easier on both of them. From then on, presents were mailed to mark landmark holidays, making awkward contact unnecessary.

Sephiroth soon became tired of the firm claiming credit for the drugs he invented and started his own and it had flourished and he had made his first million before he was twenty-four. Soon he was considered to be a business mogul as his company increased to be worth billions by the time he was his current age of twenty-seven.

He had a few affairs that ended up going nowhere until he met the love of his life, Zack Fair, the famous actor who he met at a dinner party he had forced himself to attend, preferring the comfort of his own home and beloved books.

However, Zack had become enamoured of him and had chased after Sephiroth, allowing him no quarter until he had won him. Zack managed to penetrate his protective shell and had been astounded to learn Sephiroth's secrets were: him having a low self-esteem and a longing for unconditional love. Zack had showered him with love and told him he was beautiful inside and out and Sephiroth had believed him, it was like a stunted flower suddenly being flooded with the sun's nurturing light and flourishing to beauty. Sephiroth had suddenly shone when he was with Zack, his normally neutral expression would break into sunny smiles when in his presence and his laughter bubbled like champagne. Zack became his world.

It was at Zack's urging Sephiroth had bought the overly large house he currently resided in alone. Zack had embraced Sephiroth's quiet nature, yet still had to travel to movie sets and Sephiroth would join him when he could, but disliked the fake people Zack surrounded himself with. Sephiroth wasn't one given to small talk or vicious gossip and that is all they seemed to want to talk about

The one he disliked the most was Genesis, a man who always seemed to be hired as Zack's stunt double despite him being a slim, porcelain skinned redhead, to Zack's own muscular brunette beauty. Genesis always seemed to flutter around Zack like a butterfly attempting to attract a mate with his bright colours.

Then came nights when Zack would call Sephiroth at their hotel and say he had to stay late on the set and started not coming back to him at all some nights.

 It was Valentine's Day when Sephiroth got impatient of lying on the hotel bed naked with a rose between his teeth, waiting for his lover to return so they could celebrate that special night. He had a special dinner being prepared and champagne chilling in honour of their spending their first Valentine's day together. But Zack hadn't even called to say he was going to be late.

Sephiroth had gone to the set and found all the lights off and it clearly shut for the night, the only lights coming from Zack's trailer. That is where he found the only person he had ever loved having sex with another male, Genesis. Sephiroth had told Zack to get dressed and come home and had stormed off to be flown by his private jet that night to their mansion. Zack had never arrived, they had waited until Sephiroth was at work and moved Zack's stuff out of their place, taking even things that had been presents that Zack had given Sephiroth.

Sephiroth had tried to get in touch with Zack and was finally granted an interview. Sephiroth had wanted to cry and beg Zack to take him back, but couldn't with a grinning Genesis clutched onto Zack, so instead had coldly requested certain objects back and had discussed how to split up their assets. Sephiroth had been mortified to learn they had taped their discussion and sold it to the press and people ridiculed him for being so cold.

So in his need to escape the pain, he had contacted a travel agent and requested she book him something immediately in as remote a place she could find where few people went. She had named a resort hotel in the middle of nowhere that still had nice beaches and he had said to book the largest suite for two weeks. She had tried to tell him something further, but he just told her to book it and hung up.

So he stood before the half full closet packing what he needed into each suitcase, he put most items in labeled freezer bags to prevent them from wrinkling, until the last pair of socks was folded just how he liked them and his packing complete. Making a list of each item in each suitcase, the finicky man locked them and waited for his limo to pick him up.

Vincent sat in studio appointed physiatrist’s office. "You need to take a vacation, I've spoken with your doctor: as well as having anger management issues, you have high blood pressure and your nerves are shot" he told him.

"I have far too much work to do!" Vincent snapped.

"If you keep up like this, you will develop ulcers," the doctor cautioned him. "Besides, you have done most of the work for the movie effects, your staff can take care of the small details."

Vincent glared at him through his red contacts, he knew that really unnerved people. "It's Johnny Depp starring in a Zombie movie. Do you know how much my reputation is riding on this movie? This film is costing millions of dollars and you're asking me to leave small details to a couple inadequate nitwits?" Vincent snapped, flicking an elastic against his wrist as a deterrent for his anger. " **No** detail is small when we're talking that amount of money being invested in this film!"  He was the most sought after horror movie special effects artist in Hollywood and was known for his "artistic" temperament when it came to dealing with his staff. He demanded perfection from himself and those he employed. He knew he looked like he belonged in a horror movie himself with his pale, lean muscular build that he always dressed in slim fitting black clothes, his red contacts and his unruly long dark hair.

"You mentored them," the doctor reminded him.

"They are still idiots I don't trust." Vincent growled, crossing his arms over his lean but muscular torso.

"The studio insists you take a vacation. They will cover it," the doctor insisted.

"Why should I?" He demanded, flicking it against his rising anger again.

"Your assistant, Tammy reported the incident that happened to the studio. She could have charged you with assault. She said you threw a blood sack at her," he explained.

Vincent's lips drew into a thin line at this "It was fake blood that was supposed to explode on impact and didn't. I was trying to prove a point to her," he said with an impatient sigh.

"Nevertheless, you are going to a place I know where the staff will take good care of you. I've booked you the bridal suite. Go there, swim in the ocean. Get a tan perhaps and getting laid might be an idea. Exercise, drink less and laying off fast food is a good idea. Go home and pack, you're leaving tonight," he told the scowling artist.

Vincent fumed as he let himself into his turn of the century house, he flipped on the light switch so the red lights came on to reveal the black painted walls, spooky art featuring various themes of death and red velvet drapes over the windows. He stormed into his living room and sat down on his black velvet couch and put his feet up on the coffin that was his coffee table. "Get laid," he snorted, undoing his shirt to look at the red scars that littered the pale skin of his hairless chest. "Never again," he reminded himself.

Vincent had met Lucas at a goth club one night and had been intrigued by his gentle green eyes, his dangerously handsome face and light brown hair. They had gotten on like wildfire and Vincent broke his own personal code of getting to know someone before he slept with them and took Lucas to his bed that very night. He had a body made for sin and gripped Vincent like a vice as he pounded his lust into him. Vincent had been slightly disturbed at how jealous his new boyfriend was of the other people in his life, even close female friends, even though Lucas knew Vincent was completely homosexual. It got to the point Vincent found out he was threatening people that Vincent knew he had to get rid of Lucas. So he broke up with him as gently as he could. However, Lucas started stalking him and Vincent wasn't worried, he could take care of himself he insisted when people expressed their concern. That was until one night, Lucas had broken into Vincent's place and attacked him with a knife, leaving permanent scars on his forearms and chest before he managed to get the knife away from Lucas. Since then, Vincent had decided to be celibate, he would drink and kiss pretty boys because he had always enjoyed kissing and then refuse all attempts to take him home.  Not that he was a tease, he allowed himself kisses and the touches that accompanied them because he was only human and craved intimate contact, but would go no further. At the age of thirty, he had been celibate for five years.

He sighed and pulled out a couple of old duffle bags and taking no care whatsoever with his clothes, proceeded to jam them in however they would go, even the shirts still in their dry cleaning bags. Those he would bunch up, hangers and all and cram them in. Placing a bag beneath his medicine cabinet, his hands swept everything off the shelves to tumble into the gaping maw of the jammed to the gills bag. He threw his toothbrush on top of everything and waited for the studio limo to pick him up.

Sephiroth stepped out the door of his private plane and gaped at the revelers. They were all sporting elaborate costumes and dancing to music blaring from a hidden source.

_Now_ he understood what the travel agent had been trying to tell him, there was some sort of festival going on in the otherwise normally quiet place. Sephiroth sighed and put on his sunglasses. They had carefully chosen for the UV protection of his aquamarine eyes. He exited the limo, carefully directing the porters with his bags so they would not get scratched.

Vincent got out of the limo right behind Sephiroth's and put on his own round sunglasses, chosen because they had holograms of skulls on the lenses. He wore a black silk shirt unbuttoned to expose a portion of his chest, a red jeweled cross dangled on a leather throng around his neck. His jeans were fitted to his long lean legs and high, rounded behind. He wore black leather fingerless gloves and a crimson headband lay beneath his dark unruly hair. Black army boots completed his outfit.

Sephiroth frowned when he caught sight of the man carrying two rumpled looking duffle bags and wondered if he was a badly dressed porter. His hot looking black outfit made Sephiroth glad of his own plain grey shirt and khaki Bermuda shorts. 

He looked questioningly when the thug-looking person went and stood beside him at the check-in desk and hoped that if he was a guest of the hotel, that he wasn't on the same floor as him. He wanted to be served first, so he cleared his throat and the cheerful blonde lady turned his way and gave him a polite smile. "I have a reservation for your bridal suite," he said.

Vincent's eyes turned to stare at the fit looking man with improbably long, straight silver hair. "That's impossible, I have a reservation for it!" He snapped, the lady took the two slips of paper from each man and her eyes went wide and she called for her manager.

Both males sat side by side in the manager's office, Sephiroth sat stiffly with perfect posture while Vincent slouched with his foot resting on one knee.

"It seems you were both booked for the same room at the same time," he explained.

"So give him another room." Sephiroth said, nodding towards Vincent.

"No, give Fabio over there another room." Vincent shot back and snapped the band on his wrist as his anger management coach had taught him to do when his temper was rising. It was really getting a work out right about then.

"We don't have any other rooms to offer," he said apologetically.

"Surely you can work out a deal with another hotel?" Sephiroth said in a reasonable tone of voice.

"Carnival is on, there isn't a spare closet anywhere that hasn't been rented out. Come, I'll show you your room and we shall see what there is to be done," he said.

The eyelid underneath Sephiroth's eye started twitching on viewing the room. The carpet was red and so were the walls, the red leather [couches](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/17/4d/d3/174dd36ae5c65d4821c6f8ff2002c2fd.jpg) were shaped like lips and the red marble fireplace had a heart shape at the top of the enclosure. The [bed](http://wildzest.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/bedroom-ideas-for-couples-and-get-inspiration-to-create-the-Bedroom-of-your-dreams-19.jpg) was a four poster bed with a red velvet canopy, with a plush headboard in the shape of a heart and upholstered in red fun fur. The [washroom](http://www.sheridanmillinn.com/wp-content/uploads/honeymoon-suit-tub.jpg) had an oversized red heart shaped Jacuzzi that was obviously meant for two people.

The place was huge and the only thing not overdone in a sickly red heart theme was the innocuous looking adult sized trundle bed parked in the huge walk in closet. "What the hell is with this room's theme?" Sephiroth asked with disgust in his voice.

"Bridal suite, do the math." Vincent deadpanned.

"Now listen here, Neo...." Sephiroth snapped.

"Vincent," he corrected.

"Sephiroth, pleased to meet you." Sephiroth returned, feeling anything but.

"My suggestion is that you two gentlemen share the room," the manager explained.

"Are you out of your mind? I came here to rest, not to hang out with Batman!" Sephiroth snapped.

" _Vincent._ " Vincent spat through gritted teeth.

"The hotel will pick up your entire tab while you're here. I'm sure you can both learn to compromise," he said.

"Out of the question!" Vincent snapped, flicking his abused wrist again.

"Then I guess you can decide who shall spend the next two weeks sleeping on the beach. Your keys gentlemen, a trundle bed has been provided for you," the manager said and left.

"I guess we have no choice." Sephiroth quietly said.

"Oh, very well. **I** get the bed." Vincent insisted.

"No way," Sephiroth said. "Let's settle this like men."

"Jousting?" Vincent inquired.

"Rock, paper, scissors." Sephiroth suggested.

Vincent looked at his rock hand and Sephiroth's paper hand "Best two out of three?" He suggested.

"Nope," Sephiroth said.

"It looks like a child's bed." Vincent complained with distaste in his voice as he eyed the offensive looking bed.

"At least I will be nice and comfy," Sephiroth said and started to unpack and Vincent could only watch in surprise when he used the provided ironing board and iron to press literally every item of clothing taken from his suitcase while checking them off a list one at a time.

"You seriously press your socks and underwear?" Vincent asked the fussy man.

"I like clothes to feel crisp when I put them on," he explained.

"Okay, I'm going to go change for the evening" Vincent said going into his "bedroom" and pulled on a pair leather pants to get ready to go out to a nightclub. He frowned to find out that Sephiroth had put on a pair of blue pajamas and was reading.

"Why are you dressed like that?" He asked him.

"So I can read for a bit and then turn in for bed. I like to go to bed early," he explained.

Vincent's eyebrows shot up at this, "You came to an exotic location to _read_? Why not just stay home?" He demanded of him.

Sephiroth glared at him. "My reasons for being here are personal. You spend your vacation how you want to and I shall spend mine as I want to," he said decisively lifting his book back up.

Vincent wondered if he had offended the other man and then brushed it off when he got a phone call. "Vincent," he said.

"Vincent, it's Eric," he assistant said.

"What can I do for you?" Vincent asked him.

"Tammy can't get the dye right for the leaking eyeballs and insisted that mint green will do," he tattled on her.

Vincent reached up and started snapping the band on his wrist over and over again to no avail. " **Put Tammy the fuck on, now!** " He raged, making Sephiroth almost drop his book and he lowered it into his lap.

"Tammy, Johnny Depp is going to be thrusting his fingers into a zombie's eyes and _you_ think they should leak mint green like something that comes out of a leprechaun's ass? **Are you fucking trying to ruin my business? Just adjust the dye to look like what comes out of your own ass when you drink red wine all day long; as if I don't know that! How stupid are you? Should I fire your ass and make you go back to doing sound effects for pathetic off-off-Broadway plays?  Puss green is what I expect, I want Mr. Depp to want to puke when he sinks his fingers into those eyeballs. Is that fucking clear?"** He shrieked in anger. **"Tammy's crying? She should cry because she's too stupid to do her job!"** Vincent hung up, rubbing his sore wrist.

"Are you okay?" Sephiroth asked him.

"I'm fine." Vincent said, now calm.

"It sounds like you have anger management issues. You should try doing Tai Chi or yoga, that always helps me relax." Sephiroth suggested.

"Just how gay are you? Why should I listen to some guy who waves a stupid gold sword around?" Vincent said with a snort.

"Get out," Sephiroth insisted in an incredulously authoritative voice that Vincent couldn't imagine him capable of, opening the door for him.

"Why?" Vincent demanded, realizing there was clearly more to the man than reached the eye.

"I'm a reasonable man but I will not share a room with a man who is prejudiced against gay people. My sexuality shouldn't matter, no one's should," he said crossing his arms over his broad chest and looking at Vincent in a dangerous way that made him respect him in a way he hadn't before. Clearly this was a man to be reckoned with underneath his fussy manners and possibly him having OCD.

"I've had quite enough of your high handed crap, pretty boy. I'm leaving all right, because I'm going to get drunk and hit on pretty men because I'm gay, too," he said staring at him with his own natural dark brown eyes, having removed his contacts because they were irritating him.

"Really?" Sephiroth said skeptically, eyeing him up and down.

"We come in all types of packages," Vincent said defensively.

"Your eyes aren't red anymore," Sephiroth observed.

"Wow, don't you win The Darwin Award?  No one has red eyes in real life. I wear contacts. No wonder you're travelling alone, no one could put up with an idiot like you. I know a control freak when I see one," he spat and then felt bad that Sephiroth suddenly looked rather hurt at this statement. "If you want to get dressed, you can come with me." Vincent offered him by ways of making amends.

"No, I don't drink or stay up late. I'll just order some dinner and read until I'm tired," he said dismissively picking up the phone. "I would like to order a salad with all natural dressing, please make sure all the vegetables and lettuce are organic, the same with the baked potato and a steak. You do only buy cruelty-free slaughtered meat right?" He asked.

Vincent rolled his eyes and left, muttering how it didn't matter how the cow how had been slaughtered, it was dead after all. He shuddered to think about the poor sucker who would wind up with a fussy beast like Sephiroth as their significant other.

The resort had a few different nighttime clubs for its guests to enjoy within walking distance so that they needn’t drive anywhere. One was for all types of people, one for lesbians, and one for gay men. Vincent could work through any type of club as long as there were men, but he found gay clubs easier and far less annoying than a regular club. Gays also frequented regular clubs, but he found it tedious to try hunting down the right type of man he liked flirting with. In a gay club, he could easily spot the type of pretty boy he enjoyed flirting with and kissing.

Striding into the night club garbed in his usual black, gothic attire, he subtly glanced around, eyeing the men dancing and sitting at tables as he made his way to the bar. The tall, dark man sat at the bar and pointed at a random bottle of alcohol. Since he enjoyed his booze, all types of alcohol, actually, he usually didn’t care what type he consumed unless his mood was particularly picky. Since he had a demanding job and little free time, he wasn’t free to indulge fully in drinking. Sure, when he actually went home after work to sleep, if he bothered leaving the studio, he did have a drink or two, but never was stupid enough to get piss ass drunk. As a perfectionist, he preferred to be fully sober and not nursing a hangover whenever he was on a set, especially a really important one. Unlike a lot of people, he actually did enjoy the taste of alcohol; however, like a lot of people, he also imbibed it to forget about painful things, like Lucas. Even after five years, if he was alone, he would brood in the dark until he finally grabbed the closest bottle of booze.

After a few drinks, each one a different type of booze, he felt his throat burning delightfully and his body relaxing. His troubles seemed to melt away, and he laughed a bit as he eyed the people around him. Spotting a fit, tall, and pretty man with long blond hair and green eyes, he slid off the bar stool and sauntered over to the man’s table. In his drunken state, he didn’t seem to realize that the man he was going to flirt with looked a bit like the irritating, prissy man occupying his hotel suite. Ignoring the man’s friends, he sat down next to him and proceeded to get his name and flirt with him until the blond led him away to a more secluded table so that they could kiss and touch each other without too much of an audience. When the blond, whatever his name was ( _Vincent already forgot his name_ ), suggested that they head back to his hotel room for more _privacy_ , the special effects artist’s lust cooled off almost completely. He murmured some excuse as to why he couldn’t and left the blond after giving him one last affectionate, parting kiss. Heading back to the bar, he ordered another drink, which he took his time sipping, savoring the taste and the warmth it brought him. He drank until the need for human contact drove him to seek out another pretty face and hot body to distract himself with.

Back at the hotel, Sephiroth paced the room after he had spent an hour on the same page of his book. He was still bothered by Vincent and the things he’d said to him. It shouldn’t matter, really, but it did. He didn’t even know that dark, rude man and already he wanted to yank out all of his hair. What really hit him hard was being referred to as a control freak. It made him wonder if he really was one. Was that why Zack left him? No, it couldn’t be. He didn’t remember ever controlling his ex in any way. If anything, Zack was the one who had had control over the relationship. Where they ate, slept, and even lived had been Zack’s choices. Sephiroth would never have picked out a mansion of all things to live in. It was just too big, too empty, and consumed too much power. Though he was a rich man, the thought of wasting anything still bothered him immensely. His concern for the Planet and the life that inhabited it nearly controlled most of his life choices from what he ate, wore, and enjoyed doing. His ex-boyfriend had never shared the same sentiments when it came to animals or the Planet, or even most of his own interests and he had done whatever he felt like doing with or without him. Sephiroth had never thought to tell him what to do or to eat, though he might have suggested things from time to time. Still, that wasn’t the same as being domineering. So no, whatever he had done to drive Zachary away had not been some sick compulsion to control people.

Which brought him back to the mansion. He’d have to sell it, of course, since being there only served to remind him of everything they had shared and everything he had lost. Perhaps he could move somewhere more secluded with few people for him to interact with. He’d have a simple house big enough to house all his possessions and for him to indulge in his hobbies and exercise routines. He was very wealthy and didn’t actually need to see his employees to run his company. Sephiroth knew he could run it over the phone and the computer, which is what he had been doing for a long time now. Yes, that’s what he’d do. After his vacation, he’d find somewhere quaint and peaceful where people didn’t know his name or know he was a rich man.

Opening the hotel window, he stared outside while he was lost deep in thought. In a way, it did feel nice to be somewhere people didn’t know him. He just wished he was alone here, but it’s not like there was anything he could do about it now. He’d put up with it until he couldn’t take it anymore. Hopefully that man would stay away from the room for long periods of time and whenever he returned, he’d keep to himself. Sephiroth was willing to be friendly with most people, yet something about that gothic man rubbed him the wrong way. They were like opposites in nearly every way, so far as he could tell. Either way, he would be civil unless provoked.

Gingerly undressing from his bedclothes and then dressing in his form fitting Under Armor jogging shirt and shorts, he left the hotel room to go for a nice run to calm his nerves and hopefully exhaust himself enough to stop thinking so much. Hair tied back, he glanced at himself in the mirror to ascertain if he had everything before he stepped out of the room. As his running shoes beat against the pavement, thoughts he didn’t want to be thinking crept back into his mind. With each unwelcome thought, he ran harder, pushing his body closer to its limit until all he could do was focus his breathing and concentrate on running. Twenty minutes later, he returned to his room thoroughly exhausted and sweating profusely. Grimacing in disgust at the sweat that felt suddenly cold against his itchy skin, he immediately peeled the soaked clothes from his body and dumped them in his own personal hamper that he had brought with him to the room upon check-in. Due to being hygienic and a bit on the OCD side, he tended to take showers or baths after every time he exercised, had sex, or had a bowel movement. Because of this, he normally took at least two showers a day, sometimes three or four. Padding to the bathroom, he winced at the cheesy appearance of the bathroom. It wasn’t relaxing at all and made him want to run screaming from the room, but since there was no other choice but to use it, he drew a nice hot bath and relaxed in the tub to soothe his sore muscles until he started nodding off.

After drying off, he began his nightly beauty regime which mostly consisted of him using cruelty-free tea tree facial toner and aloe night skin cream to moisturize his smooth, yet sensitive pale skin. Next, he brushed out and braided his hair into a single braid to avoid the unsightly, unmanageable, matted tangles that would have assaulted him come morning. For some reason, he could go about his day without getting too many tangles, but the moment he laid down to sleep, his hair became an impossible mess.

Freshly dressed in clean pajamas, he slipped into the tacky bed and under the covers. Normally he’d read until he fell asleep, but running until his muscles screamed at him seemed to have done the trick and within minutes, he was swept into a deep sleep in the dark, silent room.

Several hours later, at around two in the morning, Vincent stumbled into the bridal suite, chuckling to himself. He patted blindly at the wall until he eventually found the nearest light switch. A bright light flicked on, making him hiss a bit and nearly trip over his own feet. Laughing loudly, he used his hip to close the door before he entered the room fully. Though he was tired enough to fall in bed and sleep all morning, his dark brown eyes caught the slumbering sight of his new, suddenly very attractive _roommate_. Smiling a bit, he stumbled over to the bed, clumsily turned the bedside lamp on and then sat down heavily on the edge of the red bed. “Are you asleep? I hope you’re not dead, that’d be a real damn shame indeed…”

Moaning a bit at the disturbance of light and noise, Sephiroth opened his eyes, blinking blearily until he realized he was not alone and that vampy man was sitting at his bedside smiling down at him. The obvious stench of alcohol wafted off of him from his skin and from his breath. Frowning, he slowly sat up and stared at him with squinted eyes. “Oh…it’s you. Is…everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, just fine. Just a little drunk, nothing to worry about,” slurred the raven-haired man, smiling like a goof ball, which wasn’t something many people that knew him ever got to experience. “How are you? You should have come with me tonight…it was fun and there was a lot of hot guys out tonight…”

Sephiroth frowned, not sure of what to make of this version of the dark man. It wasn’t exactly terrible, but he had only slept around five hours and felt groggy from being uncouthly woken up. Perhaps if he hadn’t been so sleepy and rudely awaken, he might have found Vincent’s drunk smile a bit endearing and possibly attractive. However, since his sleep schedule had been disturbed by him, he felt tense and irritated. At this rate, he’d have to do some serious mediating sometime in the morning whenever he woke up again. Frowning, he looked up at the slightly shorter man and said, “I think you should go to bed. Drinking and staying up late is really bad for you, you know.”

“Oh, I will go to bed…eventually,” said Vincent, winking flirtatiously at the man he wouldn’t have minded kissing and being latched onto at the club. However, he was pretty much tuckered out at this point and had had his fill of physical contact. Now he just wanted to talk some without the overbearingly loud beat of music pounding everywhere. Tilting his head to the side, he continued, “But I think we should talk a bit, first. I’m sorry I was a jerk earlier so I’d like to make amends.”

“Uh, that’s okay. It’s no problem, I promise,” said Sephiroth, feeling awkward in this present situation. He was paranoid that the drunk man would attempt to get in bed with him and sully the clean sheets. The thought of the bed becoming dirty, and possibly puked on, repulsed him and if said thing happened, he would have to demand the hotel staff to change the sheets ASAP.

“You’re weird, but that’s okay. You’re not so bad, really, I think. You should come out with me tomorrow night,” suggested Vincent and with a slow, clumsy gesture of his right hand, he motioned to the length of Sephiroth’s body as if it were the 8th wonder of the world. “It’s a shame to keep all _that_ in bed, early in the night, when you could be out having real fun. At least think about it, sexy. You’d have no problem picking up someone, I guarantee it.”

Sephiroth was about to open his mouth and tell Vincent that he was drunk and needed to sleep it off when said man leaned over and kissed him on his forehead, or at least what he thought was the forehead. It was sloppy and he had nearly kissed the taller man’s eye. Laughing, he pushed off from the bed and patted Sephiroth on the shoulder. “Get your beauty sleep, I’m taking you out tomorrow…”

And with those last words, the raven-haired man stumbled over to his trundle. Barely able to stay on his feet, he began clumsily stripping his clothes from his body until every article of clothing, even his underwear, was completely divested from his body. Sighing happily at the blissful feeling of the cool air on his heated body, he fell down face first onto the trundle and promptly passed out.

Sephiroth slipped out from the bed and eyed him warily, blushing a bit when he realized the drunk man was fully _naked_. Grabbing a spare blanket, he placed it beside him before he gingerly rolled Vincent over to lay on his side lest he throw up and drown in his own puke while he slept. Then he took the blanket and draped it over his nude body until the only thing visible was his head. Sighing in relief, the silver-haired man padded back to his bed and slipped back under the covers. It took longer to fall asleep than normal, mostly due to him feeling a bit flustered at being kissed like that. No one had ever kissed him like that and though it had been drunken and meant to be innocent, it made him feel a bit strange. Eventually his breath evened out and he drifted back into a thankfully blissful, uninterrupted sleep.

Sephiroth had an internal alarm clock that had his body rising before the sun, he yawned and stretched in his bed and sat up in the darkness and got up. He turned on the lights and then remembered about his unwanted roommate and walked into the closet, wincing at how the man had left his clothes strewn about the floor at the base of his temporary bed. Mindful of him, he angled the door so it kept out most of the light. He ordered his breakfast because he didn't have the option of making his own, he ordered two eggs poached for exactly a minute, free range, of course, with a side of whole wheat toast and a pot of green tea. He had his breakfast in silence as was his habit while he checked his email on his laptop and answered the important ones.

He then used the washroom to change into a pair of black bicycle shorts and a light blue t-shirt and undid his braid and brushed his hair out, only put it into a simple ponytail. He knew the braid kept it out of the way more, but part of his daily routine involved an eight-mile jog and he certainly knew from experience how uncomfortable a braid became slapping against his butt and thighs with each stride.

He picked up the newspaper from the hallway and quickly skimmed through it and froze when he saw an article about Zack and Genesis, dashing angry tears from his eyes, he silently raged that his lack of privacy didn't allow him to grieve properly. It had only been a couple of weeks since his heart was torn out from his chest. His personal control would not allow that amount of vulnerability before a stranger. So he tore the paper in two and threw himself into the first part of his routine; yoga.

Turning the Zen Music on a higher volume then he normally would, he allowed the soothing tones to take away his grief as he moved through his positions by muscle memory alone as his brain shut down.

Vincent had felt the other male moving about even in his sleep, but sat up clutching his head when caterwauling assailed his hungover brain. It seemed to be some kind of music where water was rushing in the background, where some kind of pan flute music spiked, sharp jagged notes right into his throbbing brain. He tried to drown this out with a pillow over his head, but the vile sounds were relentless. Finally, he threw off his blanket and stalked into the other room, intent on killing the prissy man 

"What the fuck is this shit you're play..." Vincent said and stopped dead at the sight of Sephiroth on his hands and feet with his rear elevated high in the air as if presenting himself for Vincent. That he had already deduced that Sephiroth had an incredible body was one thing, this was quite another thing. If Sephiroth were to enter an ass judging contest, he would win it cheeks up as they were now and receive a huge trophy for what he was showing Vincent. In his bicycle shorts, was a high and tight rear, with nice small bubble cheeks with a sensual curve to them. Vincent suddenly had the urge to move forward and skin his bicycle shorts from him slowly like unveiling a work of art. He imagined positioning himself between those high, firm bubble cheeks and...

Sephiroth looked over his shoulder at Vincent's complaint and forced what he thought was a friendly smile. "Morning Vincent," he said, wondering why the man was staring at him in a transfixed looking way. Had he never seen a man do yoga before? Sephiroth preferred it to the traditional stretching before departing for his jog, once his jog was completed, he would spend an hour weight lifting in his home gym. However, that wasn't possible, so he would use the one on site. Then Sephiroth froze when he realized that Vincent was completely naked and blushed. Then he also noticed _what_ was pointing straight at him, Vincent wasn't a small man it appeared. Sephiroth wasn't a prude, he was somewhat of a home nudist and had loved watching Zack moving around their home in the buff, his curvy rear flexing and hips swaying with each step. However, this naked man was a relative stranger, completely erect in front of him and surprisingly well made. Vincent's goth attire had been hiding a ripped and well corded body, with ropey muscles. Wide shoulders led down to a chiseled chest and solid abs, tapering to a small waist and long, smoothly muscular legs. He wondered about the scarring on his forearms and on his hairless chest.

Vincent noticed how Sephiroth seemed to be frozen in place in his ridiculous position and then followed his gaze and realized his thoughts had caused the treacherous beast born on his own body to rise while greedily checking out the other man. His sex deprived body urging him to take Sephiroth and rut him until he cried out for mercy. However, his hungover head nodded in agreement with his sensitive belly and instead he bolted for the can and wretched up what little had been in his belly.


	2. Part II

Sephiroth straightened up and wondered what to do, he was no stranger to hangovers when it came to other people and how to care for people experiencing them. However, this was a stranger. Perhaps he didn't want his help? However, he thought the least he could do was get him clothing to cover himself with and went to the closet where Vincent had stowed his duffle bags. His left under eyelid twitched to see that there was no separation when it came to clean and dirty clothes. He would have to reach into another man's filth to retrieve what he needed. Instead, he got a pair of his own lounge pants seeing they were similar in height at least and knocked on the door after picking up a bottle of water from the small fridge. "Vincent are you okay? I brought you some water and a pair of lounge pants to put on, they're actually mine but you can keep them," Sephiroth said with a wince, not wanting them back after another man's junk had been in them.

"Leave them beside the door," Vincent groaned out and the other man softly opened the door and did so with his eyes averted.

Vincent used the tap to rinse his mouth out and then thirstily gulped the water and got into the pants, keeping them hung low on his hips.

"Thanks, are you almost done with your ballet?" He asked him, laying back on the trundle bed.

"I was just finishing, now I'm going to jog and spend an hour doing weights," Sephiroth explained, thoughtfully turning off the music.

"How often do you do this?" Vincent asked him.

"Every morning," Sephiroth explained as he put on his sport belt filled with compact water bottles and slipped the gym key into the pouch.

Vincent moaned and burrowed under the covers at this. "Do you have any coffee and pain killers? My head!" He moaned.

"I have some green tea and vitamins I could offer you; milk thistle would be good for your liver and help repair the damage you did to it last night," he offered.

"Of course you do, run along and enjoy your jog and leave me to die," Vincent moaned.

"See you in a bit," a chipper Sephiroth said and put in his earbuds and left to do wind sprints along the beach while listening to the same music he had earlier been torturing Vincent with, leaving the other man to sleep off his hangover. He returned a couple hours later feeling sore in his muscles, but with the satisfaction that he had had a great workout. He was still lightly buzzed from an endorphin high when he came into the room.

He stepped into the room to find Vincent up and eating a cheeseburger and dressed in his usual macabre way "how can you eat ground beef? You never know what they put into it" he admonished him.

"Because it's delicious, want a bite?" He asked him and Sephiroth just stared at it like he had just offered him a bite of a dead rodent. "All the more for me. I suppose you don't eat burgers," he stated.

"Just the ones I grind myself out of sirloin steak," Sephiroth explained.

"And I suppose you don't wear leather?" Vincent asked.

"Of course not," Sephiroth said eyeing Vincent's leather jacket with distaste.

"So you're tree hugger?" Vincent inquired.

"I'm concerned for the planet and all living creatures. Now if you're through insulting me, I have to go take a shower and change, I have plans for the day," he decisively said.

"You're leaving the hotel room? Remarkable." Vincent said as he finished his breakfast.

"Yes, I read there is a mountain that you can climb and the view from the top is like looking upon the face of the Goddess herself and if you make a wish, it shall be granted. I prefer activities I can do in solitude," he explained.

"I read about that too, but shouldn't you take someone with you?  It's said to be very steep, it's almost like scaling a cliff. I’m sure that the resort must have their guests accompanied if only for insurance purposes. Besides, you must be tired after working out so hard, shouldn't you rest first?" He suggested, wondering why he was feeling concerned for the fusspot.

Sephiroth was indeed sore, he had reached his limits and surpassed them in his need to work off his rage at seeing Zack and Genesis clinging amorously in the picture of the article he couldn't force himself to read. Yes, the prudent thing to do was to rest, but his head could not get that image out of it. So he would climb the mountain and wish. "I signed a waiver and they have a copy of my cliff scaling certificate, I am fully licensed to undertake this endeavor on my own," he insisted.

"If you want to make a wish, here is a penny for the fountain out front," Vincent said, handing him one.

"Copper? There are fish in there and you wish me to kill them?" Sephiroth said and stalked away to angrily shower.

Vincent wondered what bug had crawled up his delicious ass and then eyed the torn paper and wondered how it had managed to anger him. Had his favourite environmentally friendly shampoo been taken off the market?

 

Sephiroth was panting after scaling the mountain face, grateful that the resort had provided him with climbing gear, he took a long drink from his water bottle and gazed at the wondrous view. He could see everything from here and felt blessed to witness it.

He pulled out the picture of Zack and himself together for their first Christmas as a couple. Had he ever looked that happy? His eyes seemed to shine with love as he looked upon the shorter man.

He looked up and said his wish out loud. "Goddess, I want unconditional love, I want someone kind as he is caring. I want someone with a beautiful soul. I don't care what he looks like as long as he honestly loves me and wants to be mine. I'm thankful if you bless me with this," he softly said as if the birds flying past the mountain would hear him and mock his simple wish. He suddenly wished he could spout wings and fly away, perhaps to a simple cabin where he could raise his own meat for slaughter, only what he needed, of course, and raise his own vegetables. He could live anonymously and not have to worry about people spouting declarations of love from a false heart.

The sunlight suddenly seemed to caress his face like a lover and it was like the Goddess had heard him and granted his wish as his tears ran unchecked down his cheeks,

 

Vincent looked up sharply, it had felt like someone had suddenly lay a small hand on his shoulder, but there was no one there and the sunbeams danced around him in a playful way that should not be possible for that time of day.

 

Sephiroth tore up the photo but didn't scatter it to the winds, instead he put the remains in a biodegradable bag to be disposed of later in the proper way and tucked that into his belt. He wasn't a believer in the Goddess, but somehow it felt right to talk to her. Feeling tired, he lay down under a tree; the bird song, the warm tropical breezes and sun soon lulled him to sleep and he relaxed into what felt like someone's tender embrace.

He woke up hours later just as the sun was going down and made his way down the mountain, feeling stiff and sore as his muscles protested being worked so hard.

Vincent had been pacing the floor for hours, concerned about the near stranger he barely knew, he had been missing for hours. He had called the resort, demanding that someone go look for him, only to be told that their hiking instructor was off for the night and could not be reached. So he called people who offered such services, only to be told that it was too treacherous to scale that time of night. He tried to bribe them with twice their going rates while constantly flicking the band against his abused wrist in an effort not to lash out at them.  They just turned him down. He was just about to call the police or scale the damned mountain himself when Sephiroth came in. He could tell by how he was moving that he was sore.

"Where have you been?" Vincent demanded.

"I fell asleep on top of the mountain. I'm sorry, were you worried about me?" He asked the man with confusion in his voice. Wondering why he gave a damn about him when no one else did.

"Only because you're coming out with me tonight. I need a wingman," Vincent said to cover his worry.

"I'm not in the mood to socialize. I have the unabridged works of Shakespeare to read and shall turn in early," he said.

"Do you pleasure yourself while you read? It is some sort of fetish that you need privacy to do it alone?" Vincent asked him.

"I am not some kind of a pervert; I just enjoy reading as you enjoy going out. Kindly don't wake me upon your return this time. I shall order dinner and then have another shower," he said.

"Knock yourself out and don't wait up. I recommend the beef stew, I already checked with the kitchen: the vegetables were all organically grown and the cow slaughtered so cruelty-free that they practically threw her a farewell party." Vincent said, pressing a menu into his hand before departing silently from their room, relieved his temperamental roommate was alright. But did pause for a second, wondering at the aura of loneliness and despair about him that seemed to be so prevalent that evening. He thought for a second about turning around and offering to spend the evening with him, but the thought of kissing a sweet boy's pretty lips and feeling masculine hands caressing him drew him forward into the night like a siren's song.

Sephiroth felt rather touched by the gesture of caring the other man had made to him, until he went to put his soiled clothes into his laundry hamper and a vein throbbed on his forehead to see that Vincent had dumped his own dirty laundry in there as Vincent's black underwear mingled with Sephiroth's own tighty-whities in a despicable and obscene way.

 

Unfortunately for Vincent, that night at the club, the offering of young, lovely men was pretty sparse due to it being _Lesbian’s Night_.  Apparently, this club tended to alternate in order to satisfy the clientele. Men and women could still enter the club each night; however, the specials were usually exclusive to gay men or gay women depending on which night it was. Because it was Lesbians Night, most of the gay men, at least the ones Vincent enjoyed kissing and touching, had opted to stay home or go elsewhere. Still, he managed to snag one at some point during the uneventful night drinking. As always, the man wanted more, and he had to disentangle himself from the pretty man when things escalated, which had unfortunately happened fairly quickly. The man hadn’t been too happy, had even called him a cock tease, to which Vincent had flicked him off and growled, “Fuck you.”

The rest of the night he spent chatting and drinking with some pleasant middle-aged women until he felt the urge to leave. The long-time lesbian couple had been interesting and friendly in their own way, but he had not come here for women, or for chatter. Still, if tonight he couldn’t get another pretty face to kiss, he’d settle for some pleasant, stimulating chats and indulge his dry palate with more booze until he couldn’t sit without swaying.

A good portion of the night, though he was imbibed, his thoughts kept drifting back to his new _roommate_. He remembered that the paper had been ripped and left discarded on the floor. People ripped things up all of the time, but it had obviously been done in anger. Something had angered the environmentally fussy man enough for him to ahem, _litter_. During his absence, the artist had admittedly spent a good chunk of his time trying to figure out what could have offended him. All he had been able to decipher from the remains of the paper was some political stuff, the festival activities, something about a war hero, a renowned band playing at some gala, that Zack Fair actor and his new beau, something about that singer Aerith having a baby, and various other human interest stories. There was really no telling what pissed him off and for all he knew, it probably was something small bearing no picture and no big headline. Still, this nagged at him for reasons unknown to him. Why should he care? He didn’t know this man, didn’t know why he was so frustrating and prone to what were probably OCD’s. At least he thought it was OCD or something.  Maybe he was just anal retentive…?

 It was probably nothing, anyway. Although as he stared down at his scotch, he silently thought to himself that it didn’t feel like nothing to him. It was just a feeling and he could very well be wrong. After all, he had been wrong before. He had the scars to prove it.

Around one in the morning, Vincent stumbled back to the hotel like the night before and like the night before, the first thing he did was switch on the lights and wake up the sleeping silver-haired man.

“Ugh…what time is it?” Groaned Sephiroth, throwing his arm over his eyes. He made an undignified yelp that sounded a bit unmanly to his own ears, when the gothic man practically fell down on his bed, practically lying down with him. Wrinkling his nose, he recoiled at the foul stench of alcohol that clung to the other man’s skin and breath. He’d always hated that smell, but it bothered him more that people regularly fried their livers drinking that toxic sludge. A glass of wine now and then was fine, but _this_ , what Vincent was doing, was utter madness. Eyes still bleary from being woken up from a deep sleep, Sephiroth inquired, “Uh, what are you doing? Your bed is over there…”

“What if I told you…that you were smart not to…ah…I mean, come out with me tonight. There was sadly not that many men…which means I would have been forced to kiss you, my wingman, all night…long…” confessed Vincent, his eyes half-hooded and lips curled in a silly smile.

Feeling confused as to why the dark man would say such a thing, he asked, “Why?”

“Why what?” Yawned Vincent, feeling incredibly warm and comfortable lying in this bed next to a man he wouldn’t mind touching and kissing for hours. It’d been an awfully long time since he’d been this close to anyone in a bed, or even sleeping in the same room. In an odd way, sharing this room with this prissy stranger was kind of comforting. The man was bigger and taller than he was, yet Vincent didn’t feel threatened by him in the slightest. No matter how biting his remarks could be, Sephiroth never tried to punch back, with words or with fists. He’d put his foot down, but nothing more. He wasn’t sure what to make of that, yet, and honestly was too drunk to care.

“Never mind,” sighed Sephiroth, his cheeks flushed. He was wide awake now, especially with the presence of someone practically pressed against him and the image of…

“Hm…if there’s no pretty boys tomorrow again, I’ll just come back here and kiss you until you stop complaining about Global Warming,” murmured Vincent, who chuckled a bit at his own words.

Face beet red, Sephiroth said in a strained voice, “I think you should go to bed now.” Then he realized that the slightly shorter man was already passed out. Sighing, he slipped out of the bed to walk stiffly around it. Gingerly picking Vincent up, he carried the man back to his trundle bed before he laid him down, removed his boots, and tucked the covers around him to trap the heat. Looking at his own bed, he grimaced a bit from the mere thought of alcohol rubbing off on the sheets. He was half tempted to rip the sheet off the bed, but decided against it. The jade-eyed man would simply have housecleaning wash his sheets and his clothes in the morning while he was exercising. The bed was large enough for him to sleep on the clean part without risk of being sullied, after all.

After using the washroom, he returned to bed and stared at the moonlight that streamed in through the room. If he turned his head just right, he could make out Vincent’s form bathed in moonlight. Asleep and bathed in ethereal light, he didn’t seem so harsh, so…bad. If he had the nerve to say it, to truly admit it, he’d say the man looked beautiful in his sleep even though he was a sarcastic, rude jerk. Yet even he knew that appearances were truly deceiving. Zack had looked beautiful, too, in his sleep. He had seemed like such a nice, loving man, but had…

 Turning his back to Vincent, Sephiroth squeezed his eyes shut, tears leaking as he sobbed silently until he eventually fell back asleep. If he had been emotionally sober, he would have realized that maybe like Zack, Vincent wasn’t as he seemed.

 

The next morning, Sephiroth repeated his daily routine from the day prior. Though he turned on his Zen music again, he didn’t have it turned on as loud as the day before. Despite being woken up during the night once again by the drunk man, he couldn’t find it in himself to be spiteful. If they had to stay together for a time, he figured he could attempt to be pleasant and respectful as much as possible in the meantime.

 

Once again, Vincent was woken up by that godawful music he was beginning to really despise. Country and rap was beginning to sound better to him by the ticking second. Groaning, he tried to slip back to sleep, but to no avail. It took him some time to realize that he had slept in the clothes that he had worn to the club. Shaking his head, he reluctantly pushed himself off the rickety bed and trudged out to confront the man until he once again, found Sephiroth in a rather compromising position. All he could do was stand there gawking at the sight of the limber male with his knees bent and back arched so that the top of his head was a few inches away from touching the yoga mat, yet was braced by his arms. The muscles in his bare arms and legs strained a bit from the position, which stood out rather nicely against his fair, smooth skin. From his angle, Vincent had a very good vantage point of the large bulge that was obvious to the eye due to the tight bicycle shorts. He had the distinct urge to walk over and run his hands up and down those thighs, feeling those muscles and not to mention palm his crotch until that bulge was hard and straining against the restraining shorts. Of course, the real prize was behind him, that fabulous ass that still warmed him up at the mere thought of it.

Sephiroth didn’t seem to notice him standing there even when he started changing yoga poses, each one more complex than the last. He was so focused on what he was doing that he didn’t realize that his temporary roommate was eyeing him like a prized ham at a country fair. The music helped soothe his jittery nerves enough so that he could warm up his body gently and slowly before his more strenuous exercising routine began for the day.

Vincent leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms as he watched with fascination as the taller man fluidly alternated his poses, bending and stretching his body in ways the dark man had previously assumed only women could do. Before this little vacation, he’d never believed he’d find yoga interesting in any way, shape, or form. He’d seen infomercials about it before late at night, but had never paused long enough to watch since it looked boring and absurd. Yeah, he still thought it was stupid, but couldn’t help watching transfixed as a man with a body built for sin, contorted it in ways that caused his imagination to run wild. Sometimes he had to stop and think about why he was celibate until he remembered Lucas, which caused him to clench his fists until he heard a deep exhale from Sephiroth. Thoughts of Lucas evaporated as he focused his attention back on the strangely alluring, yet prudish man. His hangover was temporarily forgotten until the familiar nausea assaulted him suddenly, forcing him to flee to the bathroom to retch the contents of his stomach until he was dry heaving. The only good thing about him puking his guts out was it always seemed to kill his unwelcome erections.

 

Hours later after the silver-haired man had finished exercising, Vincent watched with his arms crossed over his chest as Sephiroth donned on a pair of some biodegradable gloves out of a pack he had brought with him. He watched as the man sorted through their dirty clothes while looking like he was holding his breath as if what lay before him was toxic sludge that had seeped out of a troll’s ass. It caused the artist to snicker and shake his head that the man was so ridiculous when it came to laundry. He noticed that Sephiroth even did this with his own clothes as if he were touching a week old corpse. After he was done, there was several piles of clothes sorted by color and article of clothing. Vincent himself didn’t particularly care and tended to wash all his clothes together, so watching this intrigued him to some degree. It was like watching some documentary about people with weird habits, like that _My Strange Addiction_ show. He was half-tempted to send an e-mail to the producers of that show about Sephiroth as a joke. It amused him to no end to imagine the camera crew showing up at the prissy man’s home to film the next new episode.

Sephiroth noticed he was being watched, but chose to ignore it. He was somewhat surprised that the other man was just watching and not snidely commenting like he usually did when they were around one another. Of course, there was the occasional laugh or snicker that made his skin itch since he knew it was at his expense. Wouldn’t be the first or last time someone laughed at him. The billionaire chose to ignore this, though, in favor of getting this chore finished so that he could enjoy lunch and possibly read outside until the early evening.

 

Later on, when Sephiroth was giving firm, precise instructions on how to wash his laundry to the head laundress, Vincent made little faces while he listened. The employee’s back was to him, but Sephiroth could still see Vincent and wasn’t amused by his childish antics. He tried to ignore him by focusing on the woman he was giving instruction to. Though he was being openly mocked, the silver-haired man couldn’t help noticing how nice Vincent looked when he was smiling and laughing. He didn’t look so…dead or scary, or unapproachable.

After the head laundress had left, Sephiroth glared at the smirking dark-haired man. “What’s your problem?”

“Nothing,” said Vincent, his smile almost on the coy side. Looking Sephiroth up and down like an artist would at a chunk of marble he was envisioning the sculpting design for, he suggested, “You would look good in dark colors, especially black. A nice pair of black underwear would look great on you. Don’t know why you insist on those tighty-whities…”

“I’m not like you, I don’t care to dress like the Dark Lord,” sniped Sephiroth, feeling a bit self-conscious now that his image was being openly dissected.

“I didn’t say you should dress _all_ in black, though you’d look great like that, too. I was merely suggesting maybe some black underwear and a black shirt or pants now and then. A lot of normal people wear some black, you know. It’s nothing bad and is a rather slimming and classic look. Besides, black is sexy, especially underwear. Your boyfriend would probably greatly enjoy peeling off a black thong or something. Doesn’t have to be a thong, but it should be something that accentuates your ass,” said the dark-haired man, biting his bottom lip a bit when he remembered just how that ass looked in those bicycle shorts. It should be illegal, really, to look that good. Better yet, it should be illegal for this man to wear any clothes at all.

Sephiroth sighed, “Don’t you have anything better to do than harass me?”

“Not really, no, but I will have something to do tonight. I take it you won’t join me as my wingman? The offer still stands you know.”

Sephiroth scoffed as he carefully peeled the gloves off and threw them away. For good measure, he used anti-bacterial as an extra precaution. It was silly, he knew, but he never felt like gloves were ever enough when dealing with grime. Shaking his head, he said, “I doubt someone like you needs a wingman. You just want me to tag along so you can tease me like you always do.”

Vincent frowned at that and upon closer inspection, he noticed the taller man looked a tad bit downtrodden. “That’s not true. I keep inviting you because it could be fun, and you seem like you need to get out and mingle. Besides, when I’m drunk, do I ever tease you?”

“No, but you do wake me up and climb in my bed,” sighed the silver-haired man.

The special effects artist raised an eyebrow at that. He didn’t remember crawling into that ridiculous looking bed. He honestly didn’t remember much after he left the club; however, he didn’t believe Sephiroth was lying. He was known for being silly and talking more than he usually did whenever he was drunk. But crawling into another’s bed? Especially a stranger’s? He didn’t remember ever doing that. Shrugging, he accepted it nonetheless and sarcastically said, “Can’t help it, I guess, since that bed is so inviting.” Though what remained unsaid was that it wasn’t the bed that was inviting, it was the _man_ in it. Inwardly he frowned at this and pushed that uninvited thought away.

 

Five days later, the routine of both men was pretty much the same. Sephiroth would wake up early, order breakfast, warm up, and exercise until lunch time. Then he would check his e-mail and read. Sometimes he would go out to hike or do something that didn’t require multiple people or much, if any, human interaction at all. He was still woken up every night by a drunken Vincent, though the man didn’t always climb into his bed. Sometimes he just sat on it and talked until he was ready to fall into his trundle bed. As annoying as it proved to be to have his rest interrupted, it was kind of nice, in a way, that this stranger sought _him_ out each night. And even during the day, Vincent remained in the hotel until Sephiroth was back from whatever it was he had been doing. It was like he wanted to ensure that Sephiroth was back home safe before he went out to do what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, as sweet as Zack could be, he had never been like that. He had never waited for Sephiroth to come home and had always jetted off to do whatever he wanted to do without any notice. It was sad that a stranger had more consideration for him that the love of his life had had had.  

 At some point, Sephiroth had finally given up to Vincent’s demands for painkillers, so one morning, when he was begged, the billionaire readily, yet reluctantly offered him some coffee and painkillers. He was somewhat surprised when Vincent thanked him and smiled at him before gratefully taking the pills and coffee from him. It was such a simple thing really, yet he was looked at like he was some kind of savior.

 Vincent didn’t realize it, but whenever the club didn’t have much to offer him in the way of willing, beautiful lips, he often came back to the hotel and crawled into Sephiroth’s red bed. His subconscious was lonely and yearned for affection, so in his plastered state, it came out and puppeteered him into kissing and touching young pretty boys, or lying in bed with Sephiroth talking until he fell asleep. He never did more than lie there talking to him, but a part of him longed to touch and kiss the prim man. Of course, when he woke up the next day, he didn’t remember this. Every morning, he gave up on sleep when he was woken up by that atrocious noise that Sephiroth swore was music, and ended up slipping those pants on that Sephiroth had given him so that he could watch the man perform his yoga routine. Each day, Vincent was able to watch without being caught and if he ever did get caught, this time it wouldn’t be with him sporting an obvious hard-on. Why he watched every day, he didn’t know, yet at the same time, a part of him did know. When Sephiroth warmed up or exercised, he seemed more confident of himself, with his moves very precise and graceful, yet arousing. At least, to his voyeur, it was arousing to the senses. Vincent suspected that he did this yoga thing to warm up and to focus his mind into a calm, composed state. That made sense, but the music he listened to while doing it made absolutely no sense at all. How could someone relax to something that sounded like music used to drive people crazier in nuthouses? Of course, Vincent chose to wear earphones and listen to his MP3 Player while watching the man.

 

One fateful afternoon, while Vincent was eating prime rib, he had turned the television on. Though he wasn’t big on watching television, ( _plus the shrink had advised that he abstain from watching too much TV_ ), he hated eating in silence so he usually turned on the TV for background noise. He didn’t even bother changing the channel, just left it on the channel the television had been on last. It was some Entertainment channel and was some show that tended to interview and talk about celebrities. Today it was centered on Zack Fair and his new boyfriend, Genesis. Though Vincent had liked working with Zack well enough, he had never cared for his irritating, dramatic body double that had always made such a fuss about absolutely _everything_. It had grated Vincent’s nerves enough to order Genesis to leave the set until he was called back to film his parts. He had no qualms about ordering people around, whether they were his assistants, actors, or stunt doubles. When it came to his job, nobody fucked things up and got away with it.

If he had to pick between sharing a room with Sephiroth or Genesis, Vincent would always pick Sephiroth. Despite him being a bit fussy and OCD, he was not a mean-spirited man and didn’t seek to insult others like Genesis always did. Not to mention the memory of Genesis coming onto Vincent always made him shudder and clench his teeth. The man had been pissed at being rejected by Vincent, but had stopped ranting the moment the artist had implied using _real_ blood, Genesis’ blood, for a scene. It wasn’t a true threat, nor could it be used as one, but the redhead had understood his message nevertheless and had stopped harassing him for the most part. Besides, that man worked through people like a school slut. Genesis always had plenty of admirers, especially since he had used to be a model in his younger years, and pretty much screwed around with anyone attractive enough that had an abundant amount of money to spoil him with. So it didn’t really come to a surprise when the couple announced they were exclusively dating.

What did come as a surprise to Vincent was when the show exposed a picture of Zack and Sephiroth together at some park, holding hands and walking like a normal couple. It suddenly dawned on him as to why his roommate had seemed familiar to him somehow. As he watched, things were starting to click into place as he stared at the smug, unapologetic shameless faces of the Zack and Genesis. The prissy, OCD man was in pain, and was probably at this particular, relatively unknown resort to avoid the paparazzi and people in general. The man was wealthy and could easily afford the best, most grand hotels and now it made sense to Vincent why he had chosen this particular one. It wasn’t necessarily a cheap hotel, was probably one of the better ones in this area, but it was obviously not one someone like Sephiroth would have normally chosen, especially considering how tacky and atrocious the Bridal suite obviously was. After all, if he remembered correctly, the man lived in a beautiful mansion in an exclusive location most people could never dream to afford living in. It made him wonder if Sephiroth wasn’t naturally this…fussy or anti-social. For all he knew, this side of the taller man was something brought on, or amplified at least, by his obvious heartbreak. It also explained why Sephiroth was alone and didn’t have a lover with him. Someone with his obvious good looks and money could easily acquire someone to occupy his bed.

On the television, Zack responded to the interviewer’s question about why he had dumped Sephiroth, by stating that the man had bored him in bed and that Genesis was a firecracker in bed by comparison. When asked why he had stayed with the business mogul for so long, the actor laughed and said it had been purely for publicity. Eye candy was eye candy and in the entertainment business, being involved with someone famous, or in good social graces, especially with gargantuan sums of money, was always a good career booster. Sneering in disgust, Vincent was about to shut off the tube when a wretched, heartbreaking sound froze him in place. He didn’t have to turn around to know that Sephiroth was standing there watching the program, too. He heard the man sharply turn around with a barely restrained sob, to storm back into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Turning the television off, Vincent slowly stood up, feeling stunned, numb, and more than a tad bit guilty. He suddenly felt like utter shit for the way he’d been treating Sephiroth since their arrival to this hotel. The sarcastic jabs at his expense and his inherent rudeness had probably done nothing but antagonize the grieving, forlorn man. He suddenly remembered the paper that had been torn apart and remembered that there had been a picture and article about Zack and Genesis. So **that** was probably what had upset Sephiroth and driven him to push his body way past acceptable limits. Vincent wasn’t blind; he had noticed out of all the days spent at this hotel, that was the only day Sephiroth had worked his body like Vincent worked a bottle of alcohol when he was alone, or at a club. He had deduced now that he did the things he did to escape his pain, to distract himself, like Vincent did. He avoided television and interacting with people to the point he was a recluse. Someone like Sephiroth could easily have _anyone_ he wanted, yet he chose not to have anyone at all. He didn’t primp in front of mirrors and probably didn’t keep in shape for vanity’s sake. If Vincent was correct, and he most likely was, most of Sephiroth’s habits were brought on by his grief, and probably due to lacking self-confidence, which was odd since he was such an attractive, successful man. Still, even celebrities and wealthy people struggled with depression and other mental problems. It wasn’t so inconceivable that a broken man like Sephiroth lacked faith in himself and shied away from people entirely.

Taking a deep breath, Vincent quietly walked into the bedroom, which was luckily unlocked. Had it been locked, he would have had to acquire another key or try his hand at lock picking. Normally, he would have left Sephiroth alone to his own devices, but a strong feeling was nagging at him to go to him. As predicted, the man had thrown himself into his bed and was curled up under the covers, hugging and sobbing into his pillow. Though his sobs were muffled, Vincent could still hear them and it stabbed straight through his chest, causing water to well up in his own dark brown eyes. He was suddenly grateful that he had taken his contacts out a couple hours ago.

Gingerly sitting on the end of the bed, Vincent awkwardly listened to him crying. He wasn’t sure what he should do at the moment, but he knew the wrong thing to do would be to leave this man alone. The raven-haired man was worried about him and feared if he left him alone, he might do something stupid and irreversible. After all, Vincent had been there before. The only reason he was still here today breathing was because a friend had reached out to him. He didn’t know Sephiroth like a book, but he understood him now and had spent enough time around him to be familiar. The man needed a friend right now and a shoulder to cry on. The last thing Sephiroth needed was to be alone.

“G-go a-a-away!” Cried Sephiroth, rolling away to turn his back to him. He curled in on himself, trying to stifle his tears as his body shuddered. The last thing he wanted right now was an audience to his pain to mock him like the rest of the world undoubtedly did. Though suicide wasn’t exactly something he’d actually consider, he thought if he died right now in this moment, he’d be more than okay with it. The world was an ugly, unforgiving place to him now and though he wished to be loved, now he didn’t believe it’d ever happen for him. After all, he had loved Zack and had believed the actor had loved him back, but now he knew it had all been a lie, a lie just to use him for selfish gain. The world was exposed to him now for what it was, hideous, distorted, and merciless. People were selfish beasts that wanted nothing more than to use and abuse until they tired of the ones they were leeching from. Sephiroth might have all the money in the world, yet now he was probably one of the most miserable people that walked the Planet. Money couldn’t make the pain go away and couldn’t make anyone truly love or respect him. Everything he did from his environmentally friendly lifestyle to his active, healthy exercise regime, was useless and pointless. It would change nothing, it changed nothing for him or for the world. If he died today, or tomorrow, nobody would notice except for the ones that wanted to sell his story or greedily lap up the remains of his money, properties, and valuables.

“I’m sorry for being an asshole to you, I truly am, but I’m not going anywhere right now. I’m staying right here, with you,” calmly said Vincent, who slowly reached over and placed a gentle hand on the other man’s shoulder. What happened next surprised him enough to jerk and gasp when Sephiroth had whirled around and threw himself at him, arms clinging to him like he was a stranded man clutching at a buoy in a vast ocean without any true hope for reprieve. Burying his face into Vincent’s chest, he sobbed loudly, his body shaking with his sobs as his eyes and nose leaked freely. Vincent froze at first, but instinctively pulled Sephiroth close to his body, holding him tightly as one hand rubbed soothing patterns up and down the man’s back to comfort him. His dark eyes pricked with tears as he listened to the man weeping, his raw agony awakening many emotions in the dark man. He held back his own tears since someone here needed to be strong, needed to offer the comfort here. Though he had his own pain that lurked deep inside him, Vincent didn’t like seeing this man so broken, so miserable. The desire to make everything better, to take this man’s pain away kept him rooted to the spot and away from the club. He would stay here for the rest of the day and even if he wasn’t needed during the night, he wasn’t going anywhere.

What felt like hours, but was probably less than an hour, passed before Sephiroth’s sobs tapered off into quiet sniffles until he had fallen asleep from the sheer exhaustion of his grief. Vincent remained sitting on the bed holding the man for longer than he probably should have. After a while, he gently laid him down in the bed and tucked the covers around him almost like a mother would. Getting up, he returned shortly with a warm, wet washcloth and gently cleaned Sephiroth’s wet, reddened face. When he was finished, he pulled over one of the comfortable, ( _thankfully normal-looking, not heart or lip shaped_ ) arm chairs so that it was beside the bed and sat there like a worried guardian flipping through some of Sephiroth’s books for hours until he eventually fell asleep in the chair, a book open and forgotten in his lap.

 

Sephiroth woke up and frowned to find Vincent asleep in the chair beside his bed. Then remembered what had occurred the night before and blushed tomato red in remembrance, but somehow felt better to have shared his pain with someone. Vincent had reacted to Sephiroth's anguish in a way that he would never have suspected of him.

He studied him as if through new eyes, his hair was disheveled as ever and was spouting like some exotic plant over a black headscarf binding his forehead.  He was wearing a black silk shirt, unbuttoned over a plain black t-shirt, a studded belt topped his leather plants and he wore black leather biker boots with metal plates studding the upper half and toes. Yet Sephiroth realized that underneath his thug-like exterior beat, there was the noble heart of a white knight. "Vincent," he softly said, touching his knee.

"Wha-what?" He said startling awake and then clutching his neck in pain. "Ow," he complained in a groggy voice. "Sephiroth, you okay?" He said, pushing past his own discomfort to focus on the silver-haired man, noticing how swollen his eyes looked. "Your gorgeous eyes are all swollen. Let me call the kitchen. They must have some teabags we can put on them to reduce the swelling," he said sitting up with a groan.

 

"Don't worry about me. You look exhausted. You should get some rest. Thank you, for being here for me," he said, giving Vincent a sheepish look that made him look endearing.

"Hey, I know Zack and Genesis and quite frankly; he traded down," Vincent said, blinking sleepy dark brown eyes at him.

Sephiroth got up, "Come on, you're barely even awake. You get some more rest and I'll forgo my usual stretching routine," he offered, helping the other man to stand.

"What a waste that would be," Vincent said in a groggy voice and Sephiroth had no idea what to make of that. He turned around to let Vincent get undressed for bed, but Vincent soon realized his leather pants had all but fused to his legs during the night. "Sephiroth, could you help me?" He asked him with a blush.

Sephiroth seized the top of the leather pants where they were stuck at the tops of Vincent's thighs, trying not to stare at Vincent's underwear. He wondered what purpose they served, knowing that when Vincent drunkenly told him about kissing men, that that was a rather juvenile euphemism for having sex with them. Though it was unclear to Sephiroth why Vincent felt the need to term it that way to him.

Vincent's underwear did indeed fit him from his waist to upper thighs as normal underwear did but they were completely sheer! He tried not to stare at the fringe of dark pubic hair, a soft, rather weighty and pendulous circumcised penis and two nice sized ovals of testicles lightly dusted with hair, that were cupped within the scandalously tight fabric. With Vincent pushing and him pulling, the pants finally slid from him, revealing long lightly muscled legs that would have made a super model cry with envy. Sephiroth blushed as the removal of Vincent's pants released the scent of clean male musk, mixed with sweat that made Sephiroth's own dick twitch in response; Vincent smelled like sex.

"You should get to bed," Sephiroth said in a strangled voice as Vincent stood up and pushed the underwear from himself.

"I could use a nap," he agreed, unwrapping the headscarf from his head, as naked as the day he was born and Sephiroth averted his eyes. "I can stay up if you need anything," he offered, his hair now draped in messy strands along his back and framed his androgynous face, making Sephiroth realize how attractive the other male was.

"It's okay. I'll put your clothes in the hamper and leave you to rest," he insisted, hastily dressing in his workout gear and putting his hair back in the sloppiest ponytail he had ever done, before bolting from the room. He had closed the door after himself. He looked at his hands in horror when he realized he had handled another man's underwear with his bare hands. He bolted to the gym to scrub his hands with the thoroughness as if he were preparing to go into surgery, while he suppressed the urge to vomit.


	3. Part III

Vincent woke up a few hours later and sat up and recalled that Sephiroth had had to see him in his revealing underwear and found himself smirking at this. He looked at the clock and knew Sephiroth would be back soon for his shower and to change for the day.

"Vincent." Sephiroth came in soaked with sweat.

"You should go shower," Vincent suggested.

"Why were you so nice to me last night?” Sephiroth suddenly asked him.

"You had a nasty shock and needed someone to be there for you. I'm not as bad as I seem. I was once in a situation where I needed someone to take charge of me and someone was. I'm not saying it was to restore some kind of cosmic balance to the universe or anything like that. Just know that I've become fond of you despite your quirks and foibles. You're a genuine person. You would have done the same for me," he said brushing it off. "I would like to spend the rest of the day with you if you will allow me that," he suggested.

"What have you in mind?" Sephiroth asked.

"Well, there was something I had suggested to the resort, which they have agreed upon," Vincent cryptically said.

"What would that be?" Sephiroth said with suspicion in his voice.

Children, the room in the resort that had been assigned to Vincent was full of them, this caused Sephiroth to stop short. Vincent gave him a grin and strode past him, shaking hands with parents and introducing himself to the children. He looked surprising clean cut compared to his usual look. He wore a pair of black trainers with black relax fit jeans and a simple black t-shirt that was neither too loose or fitted at the same time. His usual unruly hair had been neatly brushed back into a ponytail.

"What is all this?" Sephiroth whispered to him.

"An art lesson," Vincent whispered dramatically back.

"An art lesson? You're going to teach these children to make bleeding eyeballs or something?" Sephiroth demanded.

"I graduated from art school before choosing what I wanted to do with my art. I can also paint and sculpt. The resort has little to offer children, so I volunteered to give art lessons," he explained moving to stand before in front of the class.

"Hello, I understand you've all come here today to try your hand at working with clay. This is a free form class; there is no correct way of sculpting the clay. Here is your model," he said taking the cover off an aquarium and inside was a seahorse swimming around. Sephiroth was a little surprised not to see a tarantula there. "This little guy was caught this morning and shall be what you try to copy," Vincent explained.

Noticing how livid Sephiroth looked that a helpless, wild creature had been captured and penned up, Vincent added, "Once the lesson is done, if you wish to join me in releasing him so he can go home to his family, please stay behind," he requested and felt touched at how Sephiroth gave him a look of appreciation at this.

Vincent assigned the children, that ranged in age from about five to about twelve, to various work stations and walked around to assist them, giving praise to all, even those who made lumpy seahorse-snowman type creatures with fins on them. He noted that Sephiroth had been sucked into helping a little girl and left them to their own devices as they sought to come up with how they wanted it to look.

Vincent's father had been a kind and artistic man who had encouraged his son in his passion for art. He always had been quick with a joke and naturally calm to his son's hotheaded temperament. "You shouldn't let silly things bother you," he chided him when Vincent would rage over something he did wrong. "So you mixed the wrong blue for what you're hoping to achieve, blue is blue. Start again if you're unsatisfied. Besides, if you truly suck at art as you claim, you could always become a teacher like I did," he teased him, always giving his beautiful son, with the same dark brown eyes as his own, a proud hug. Vincent missed him; he had been hit by a drunk driver when Vincent was twenty-five, leaving him all alone in the world. Vincent's mother had died of cancer when Vincent was nine.

The press never knew and neither did any of the staff that he worked with, or anyone else but Vincent's closest friend, that Vincent gave free art lessons to underprivileged children and enjoyed working with children whether they had any talent or not. It was rewarding for him to see his students rejoice in bringing their artistic visions to life, no matter how awful. Some pieces had even inspired some of his own horror movie effects.

The art lesson went smoothly with the older children coming to the aid of the younger ones and Sephiroth's young charge proudly displayed for Vincent's approval, the worst lumpy sculpture that he heaped praise upon.

Sephiroth hung back, unable to believe how easily the dark man worked with children, he was polite, smiling and friendly. How many facets did the man have? He wondered as the children walked with Vincent to the shoreline, while he carried the aquarium and released the small aquatic creature back into the ocean and all the children waved goodbye to it.

Sephiroth and Vincent actually did spend the rest of the day together when they went to dinner. Then went back to their room and opted to watch movies on low only for background noise, while they opened up to each other about their lives in a way Sephiroth normally didn't. He found himself telling Vincent about his sense of isolation growing up, how the habits of his fussy parents were ingrained into him a long time ago. About his first love, Cloud. Who had taught him he was worth loving. How Cloud had been concerned for the planet and now worked for environmental protection and lived with his husband, Reno, and they were raising an adopted Wutaian special needs child.  How he, Sephiroth, had trouble relating to people normally and usually tried to be emotionally distant rather than disappoint people. Then he told him of how Zack had wooed and won him and then broke his heart.

Vincent listened and then told him of his own life growing up with his father, about how his temper normally got him into trouble and bloopers he had made when just starting out. Things more humorous than anything that had Sephiroth laughing. He told him many things while Sephiroth drank in every word, wishing he had had a father like Vincent's. Vincent couldn't help thinking that Sephiroth's smile was beautiful beyond compare and found himself telling him even the most embarrassing incidents to encourage it, but not about Lucas, he wasn't ready to tell him that.

They both went to bed at the same time, Vincent not missing kissing pretty boys or the club in the least as they both said goodnight.

The next few days, sometimes they would separate for a while, but kept in contact and joined the other where they were. Sephiroth actually felt elated when Vincent suddenly appeared from around the corner while he was jogging, until he noticed he had on beneath his black t-shirt, what looked suspiciously like a pair of Sephiroth's own black bicycle shorts.

He smiled at him when Vincent joined him on the lounge chair beside his as he read in the shade of the attached umbrella and his own Tilley snap brim sunhat and a large, drapey shirt worn over his swim trunks. He didn't like the effects sunscreen had on the coral reef, so didn't use any. He went back to reading, trying not to gloat as Vincent ordered an organically grown lemonade and opened his own book...and was soon asleep.

Vincent woke up and frowned that he was now wearing a gray hat and his shirt which had been unbuttoned, was now primly buttoned to the top. A large gray shirt had been draped over his exposed legs to keep them from getting burned.

He sat up, wondering where Sephiroth had got to and was surprised to find him frolicking in the water, expecting him not to enjoy the ocean because the fussy man disapproved of it because fish defecated in it or something. Yet he looked to be having fun as he dived into the waves, looking like a merman. He looked at Vincent and waved at him and Vincent went to join him like being summoned like a siren's song. Both were laughing as they got into a splash fight.

Vincent could no longer take being with a man he longed to kiss and fondle (amongst other things) when he couldn't. "You sure you don't want to come with me?" He asked Sephiroth again.

Sephiroth thought about all those months being towed to dull parties by Zack, so that he could sit awkwardly by while Genesis stood beside Zack as if he were his date instead of Sephiroth. "I'm sorry, it's just not my thing," he explained.

"You sure you don't mind?" Vincent asked him, not wanting to leave him alone. When had he gotten so attached to the prissy man? It was ridiculous!

"Go, go kiss your pretty boys," Sephiroth said in a light tone of voice while it felt like he was lying.

"If you change your mind, come join me," Vincent urged him.

"Just get out of here, I'll see you when you wake me up," Sephiroth assured him and opened his book with a snap while Vincent departed being of two minds about the whole thing but needed someone he could cuddle and kiss, so he left.

Vincent found it odd when the pretty man he chose suggested they go for a walk, but figuring he might be shy, he allowed to lead him to the alleyway beside the club. He laughed as the man pinned him against the wall. Then looked around and recognized every one of the other pretty boys surrounding him as ones he had kissed in the club. "Hi Vincent, we thought we would show you what happens to cockteases," a voice cruelly said and the man who was the final one he kissed stepped forward. "You told me to fuck you. I intend to; we all do. We've been talking and it seems you owe us all some sexual gratification," he taunted him.

"Go fuck yourself!" Vincent cried with bravado in his voice, knowing he couldn't defeat that many men, but he would be damned if he was just going to lie back and let it happen. His punch buried itself into that first man's stomach and then he whirled to take down the next person, taking on a many as he could. Until something struck his head from behind and he sagged to the ground.

Sephiroth found it hard to believe he was missing the dark man. He was perfectly capable of looking after himself. He had years of experience in being by himself. He was not a child! Finally, he decided one drink wouldn't hurt him and got dressed and headed for the club. With a touch of vanity, he pulled on a tight fitting black t-shirt and left the grey one he pulled over it unbuttoned.

Sephiroth was confused when he couldn't find Vincent until the bartender explained he had left with a man. Feeling dejected and oddly jealous, Sephiroth had left. When he heard a moan coming from the alleyway, he ducked in there and his eyes went wide to find Vincent topless and slumped into a man's arms while another was undoing his pants and a bunch more men looked eagerly on. "What's the meaning of this?" He demanded.

"We're giving this cocktease a taste of his own medicine. He's been flirting and kissing us all and then denying us when we've been trying to bed him. You're welcome to take a turn with him after we're done," the man explained, starting to tug the tight pants down Vincent's legs as he moaned in protest.

Violence wasn't something that Sephiroth condoned, he saw no place for it in the world and didn't see how anything could be solved with his fists. Yet he beat those men until they were no longer standing.

Turning his attention to Vincent, he gently pulled up and buttoned his pants as Vincent clung trembling to him. Whispering soothingly to him, Sephiroth then slipped off and put his own shirt on Vincent and buttoned it up before taking him back to their hotel room. They were both disheveled and Sephiroth had his arms around Vincent as he helped the traumatized man to walk. Yet the picture looked amorous, as if the men had been getting frisky with each other at the bar and now were walking back to their room for a tryst. Neither realized that a reporter had recognized Sephiroth and snapped their photo during their walk.

He sat Vincent down and examined him for injuries, other than a lump on his head and bruising, he seemed to be okay. "I’m calling the cops," he said.

"No, no one can know about this. That I was almost..." Vincent said and burst into tears, burying his face in his hands, the shock wearing off.

Feeling extremely protective, yet understanding of Vincent’s wish, he nodded in agreement. “This will stay between us, I won’t tell a soul, you have my word. But, if they open their mouths to smear you, I will not tolerate it. I know their faces, it’s imprinted in my mind and if you should wish it, I can have them looked up and punished accordingly.”

“I led them on…wouldn’t do more than kiss,” said Vincent, his voice low and eyes hollow. His face was wet, but unlike Sephiroth, it didn’t swell up or turn red when he cried. He wiped his own tears away with the back of his hand and a part of him regretted wearing the contacts tonight.

Sephiroth’s earlier thoughts that Vincent’s kissing of pretty boys being an immature euphemism for sex came to mind. So that meant he didn’t go out having sex with random, attractive strangers, after all. The lingering jealousy he had felt earlier evaporated only to be replaced by relief that sank deep within his being. It amazed him how often he had been wrong about Vincent and could only wonder about how much more he had been wrong about. Frowning, he slipped a loose arm around Vincent’s shoulders so that if he wanted to shrug him off, he could. Sometimes people that were sexually assaulted or raped couldn’t stand being touched after such a traumatizing event. Frowning, he stared at Vincent, his green eyes clearly displaying his sympathy and understanding.  When his arm wasn’t shrugged off, he firmly said, “You didn’t deserve that, no matter what anyone thinks or says. If all you want to do is to kiss someone, that’s your right, and if you’re not into it, you can say no and walk away, even if you’re married and even if you’re in the middle of sex and want to stop,” he said before looking away to stare down at the floor. Voice lower, he nearly whispered, “Zack…may not be my favorite person right now, but when I wasn’t in the mood, when I said no, he stopped. He was disappointed, but he didn’t attack me.”

Vincent slowly looked back at him, a flicker of his old self burning in his crimson eyes. Something dark and dangerous glinted in his eyes and Sephiroth wasn’t certain if it was directed at him or not. He had misunderstood him plenty of times before, so he could be very well misunderstanding him now. “Good to know I won’t have to rip his sorry, shriveled little dick and balls off.”

Sephiroth felt appalled when he realized that he had unintentionally diverted the conversation towards himself and his own personal issues. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to project my problems onto you. Was just trying to—“

“—It’s fine, I knew what you were saying,” interrupted Vincent, who leaned closer to the taller man in a quiet way to seek the comfort he was obviously offering. Head resting against a strong shoulder, he sighed quietly when the arm slung around his shoulders tightened considerably. “And you’re right, it’s not my fault, but I still should have known better. I shouldn’t have left the club with him tonight. I made that same mistake before, I can’t believe I was stupid enough _again_ …”

The slightly larger man felt hesitant about broaching the topic, yet decided to in the end since it was hanging thickly in the air. He remembered Vincent implying something about a friend being there for him in his lowest hour. “Did this…I mean, has this happened before?”

“Five years ago, I met this guy at a club, his name was Lucas. Even back then, I didn’t normally take strangers home for sex, but we clicked right away and I broke my own rule by bringing him back to my place. We dated for some time, things seemed great until I started noticing he got jealous over everyone in my life and made my friends uncomfortable by threatening them. I let him down gently and thought everything was okay even though he ended up stalking me. One night, he broke into my house and attacked me with a knife until I managed to get it away from him. That’s why…I have these scars,” slowly explained Vincent. He glanced down at his covered chest and arms and knew the other man had seen his scars a few times already. It was incredibly difficult for him to drudge out this secret, but at the same time, it felt like he had exhaled deeply after holding his breath for so long.

Sephiroth’s face showed his mortification as he stared at his new friend, his chest constricting at the thought that someone had hurt this man, had tried to kill him. He didn’t know what to say. What could he say to this man about something so horrible? Instead of offering cheap, meaningless words, he wrapped both arms around Vincent and pulled him closer to his body. This man had selflessly offered him comfort and support in his time of need though they were sort of strangers, so he’d offer it right back for as long as he needed it.

Practically melting in those strong arms, and that masculine, clean scent, Vincent shivered a bit from the pleasure of it. “I’ve been celibate for five years now because of it. I didn’t want to make the same mistake as before, but it seems like I did so anyway. All I wanted was someone to kiss without any strings attached. It seems silly, but kissing was always one of my favorite things. I thought I could give up sex forever if I could just have someone to kiss and touch every now and then. I should have known that wouldn’t be good enough for anyone. Everyone always wants more than what I am willing to give them.”

“You could kiss me, I wouldn’t press for more,” blurted out Sephiroth before he knew what was happening. Shocked by his own hasty offer, he tried to release Vincent so that he could scramble away, but the shorter male wouldn’t allow him to flee. Turning towards him, the artist held him firmly by the shoulders as he looked the blushing man in the eyes as if searching for something. Whatever it was, he seemed to have found it, which drove him to cup the side of Sephiroth’s face in his hand. His thumb slowly caressed those silken lips, his ruby colored eyes following the movement as if enraptured by the sensual curve of lips that parted slightly from the gentle strokes. The temptation to finally kiss those lips, to pry them open and taste him, proved to be too much. Had he not been so vulnerable and weak, he would have never dared to take advantage of a newly heartbroken man.

“I’m sorry,” was all Vincent could think to say before he closed in the distance and pressed his mouth to Sephiroth’s. He kissed him slowly and softly, of course, giving him a chance to back out should he need it. He hummed approvingly when Sephiroth opened his mouth and weaved his fingers into dark locks to cradle the back of his skull. Deepening the kiss, he plundered the depths of Sephiroth’s oral cavity and was pleased when the taller man actively kissed him back, far from passive, but nowhere near aggressive. It wasn’t long before he had Sephiroth on his back, kissing his neck and jaw before returning back to those luscious lips as his hands slipped under that black shirt ( _oh god yes, the man looked so damn good in black, like Vincent had predicted_ ) to feel him up. His hands burned a trail up over impressive abdominals and a smooth, broad chest with erect, dusky pink nipples he couldn’t help rubbing the hard nubs between his fingers, delighting in the sharp hiss from the other man’s mouth. He smiled into the kiss from the way Sephiroth pressed against his hands and arched his back. His right hand slipped lower between them until he was palming the source of Sephiroth’s arousal. The compulsion to slip his hand under the waistband of his pants and take him in hand was so great he had to break away from the scorching, addictive taste and feel of those marvelous lips. If he didn’t stop now, he was going to end up breaking his own vow and pushing a brokenhearted man into having sex with him when he wasn’t ready for it.

“God, Sephiroth, you’re too fucking hot,” panted Vincent as he rolled onto his back after disentangling himself from that tempting body. His libido demanded that he act on his desires, that he shed their clothing and pound into that sweet ass until neither one of them knew where they began or ended.

“You’re not so bad yourself, even with those contacts,” joked Sephiroth as he breathed deeply, trying to calm his hammering heart and sizzling body.

After both men had calmed down sufficiently, Vincent turned his head to look at the beautiful billionaire. “Thank you…for everything tonight. I didn’t expect to see you at the club tonight. You’re an angel, you know that? What made you change your mind and come out tonight? I thought you didn’t want to hang out with Batman…”

Sephiroth looked away, blushed, and mumbled something the other didn’t quite catch.

“Sorry, what was that? Unfortunately, I left my vampire mind reading powers at home along with my bat ears,” jested Vincent.

Face still turned away, Sephiroth repeated in a strained voice, “I missed you.”

“Hey, look at me,” ordered Vincent softly and when the other man reluctantly turned his head to face him, he continued, “I missed you, too. Nothing wrong with that.”

“But we barely know each other,” started Sephiroth, frowning a bit.

“And yet you sought me out to be with me tonight. A pacifist like you beat up a bunch of guys just to rescue me. Then you comforted me and I told you my secret. You even let me kiss and touch you. If that still makes us strangers, then hello, my name is Vincent Valentine, nice to meet you, and oh, by the way, I like you, you fussy man.”

“I like you, too,” admitted Sephiroth with a deepening blush.

“Good. Now go to sleep,” said Vincent as he reluctantly began to sit up to leave.

Sephiroth sat up and laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “No, stay. You’ve been through a lot tonight; you shouldn’t sleep alone.”

“I sleep naked, Seph. Think you can handle that? I don’t want to wake up with you wearing a hazmat suit and this room sealed off and sheets stripped…”

The silver-haired man sighed and smacked him over the head. “I can handle it, now be quiet and stop being so sarcastic or I’ll pour sanitizer down your throat.”

Vincent managed to shuck off his clothes and underwear without Sephiroth’s assistance this time. The moment he was naked, he was suddenly grateful for Sephiroth’s insistence that they sleep in the same bed. The memory that he had been nearly naked barely an hour or so before, nearly raped, caused his skin to crawl like a thousand insects were all over his naked flesh. He felt loads better when he was under the sheets next to the other man and couldn’t help cracking another joke. “I’m surprised you’re not chugging some mouthwash right about now.”

“I’m surprised you’re still sober,” shot back Sephiroth with a sigh, though he smiled a little bit.

Vincent smiled, but said nothing since he felt the prissy man deserved to have the last word, this time.

The next morning, the actor and ex-boyfriend of Sephiroth, known as Zack Fair, sat at their new kitchen table, flipping through the newspaper while their live-in maid cooked breakfast for them. Or more like, for him, since Genesis tended to take his sweet time getting out of bed and primping himself like a peacock. He sipped his coffee as he flipped through the paper while the television, mounted on the wall to Zack’s left, blared celebrity gossip from the comfort of the kitchen. He was vain enough to keep up for tabloids and celebrity gossip just in case he was mentioned, which he tended to be quite a bit. Whether it was negative or positive, it was still publicity and for his job, that was always good publicity even if he was made out to be a prick.

He paused in mid sip when he heard the name Sephiroth Crescent repeatedly coming from the direction of the TV. Turning his head, his jaw dropped when a rather perky, pretty woman, whose name was apparently Yuffie, excitedly jabbered on about a new photograph that had been snapped the night before of the elusive billionaire outside some club with another man. Right beside her was the picture, which displayed both men, but wasn’t easy to see the details until suddenly the picture expanded enough to fill the screen. Though the film quality wasn’t the greatest, especially since it was taken at night, it was undoubtedly Sephiroth holding onto a pale, dark-haired man. The slightly shorter man’s hair and clothes were fairly rumpled, making him appear as if he had previously been doing something naughty. Both men seemed to be clinging to one another as they walked, making them appear to be sweethearts.

The sprightly girl, though she couldn’t be seen at the moment, enthusiastically explained that both men were caught leaving the resort’s gay club cuddled together. She went on to explain that for a week now, both men, the billionaire business mogul, Sephiroth Crescent, and the renowned Special Effects Make Up Artist, Vincent Valentine, have been staying in the Bridal Suite together at the Gold Saucer Resort in Costa Del Sol for over a week now. She added in how while the resort wasn’t well-known, that it had a beautiful beach and that the two-week long Carnival was happening in that area, reeling a lot of tourists in. The woman also commented how such a match was unexpected, but laughed and said she was happy the recently dumped billionaire had a new beau. Yuffie sighed loudly, remarking how such gorgeous, fit men were both gay and taken while a cute girl like her was still sadly single before laughing at her own joke.

Zack dropped his coffee cup, not caring in the slightest as the ceramic shattered on the floor, liquid splattered everywhere. He pushed away from the table and walked over to the TV to gawk at the photograph. Jaw clenched, he glared at the screen as if the two men could see him now.

“Morning, sweetness!” Came Genesis’ usual sing-song morning voice as he strutted into the kitchen garbed in his usual flashy red and black expensive designer outfit. He cringed at the mess on the floor before looking at his fuming lover glaring murderously at the television. “What’s the matter, my Fair one?”

“Sephiroth…is _with_ Vincent now,” ground out Zack. He had never held a grudge towards Vincent before, not even when Genesis had complained about him, but now, now he hated that man. The jealousy that surged through him caused both of his hands to clench and shake uncontrollably, and his teeth to grind unpleasantly. If he were in a cartoon, sparks would be whizzing out of his mouth. All he could think about now was that gothic weirdo man on top of what was rightfully _Zack’s_ , wedged between two long, yet well shaped legs as he pounded into that tight, velvet ass. He could imagine a hundred scenarios at least, all from his own mental library to help with the visuals and the sounds. As jealous as he felt, his belly burned from the memory of sex with Sephiroth. He had been lying when he had said sex with him had been boring. It had been far from boring actually, and half the time when he was with Genesis, he closed his eyes and pictured his ex. The truth was, he was ashamed of himself, of the cowardly way he had fucked around with Genesis behind Sephiroth’s back, and didn’t want the world to know that Sephiroth had found out about the affair, causing him to flee.

In truth, he missed Sephiroth and regretted running away with Genesis. His new lover was fun, but he wasn’t exactly faithful and Zack suspected he had caught the clap from him. Genesis always had to have his way all of the time and was so dramatic that he threw a fit about absolutely everything. Because of the redhead’s fiery temper and unreasonable demands, they went through housekeepers like Kleenex. He was always embarrassed by him and had to apologize profusely to the housekeepers and pay them extra out of guilt. Genesis was the polar opposite of Sephiroth in nearly every way and perhaps that’s why he had been so attracted to him in the first place. One was loud and fun while the other was quiet and reserved.

Zack missed everything about Sephiroth, even his weird organization ways and eco warrior spirit, as he had often jokingly referred to it as to the silver-haired man. It wasn’t just their amazing sex life that he missed; it was all the little things, too. That look of unbridled love and admiration was one he had never seen on anyone else’s face except for his loyal, sweet Sephiroth. He had not cared how much Zack was worth nor had he waltzed around clinging to him like a trophy. Everyone else just saw a good-looking star whereas Sephiroth saw so much more in him, more than even Zack saw in himself.

“Oh, well, I guess that explains why he rejected me. Such bad taste that one has, and such a temper on him, _oooh_ ,” commented Genesis as he stepped around the mess to snatch a bottle of mineral water from the blonde-haired maid, who glared at the rude, red-haired man. Glancing at his lover, he was confused as to why Zack seemed irritated by this news. “Why do you care about that old wallflower anyway? You’ve got the life of the party right here, at your beck and call.”

“Looks like I’m the one with the poor taste now,” said Zack a bit more callously than he intended.

Genesis’ face was comical in the way that he looked as if the actor had physically smacked him across the face. Eyes wide and mouth open, he gawked at Zack until the shock wore off and his temper snapped. “Why, you listen here, Zack Fair, you’ve got it good, you’ve got the best. You have me!”

“ **Everyone** has _had_ you,” growled Zack as he turned to glare reproachfully at the angered redhead. Before the other man could snap, Zack grabbed him by his expensive designer shirt and forcefully dragged him out the front door. “I’m done with you, Genesis. I’m sick and tired of your bullshit and the way you treat people. It’s sick, you need help. I was a stupid, fucking fool for messing around with you, for choosing _you_. I had the best and traded him in for the worst. Now get off of my property before I call the cops on your bony ass. Don’t worry about all your expensive shit, it’ll be sent to you.” And with those parting words Zack slammed the door in his livid face. He couldn’t help smiling sheepishly when his maid, Elena, gave him a standing ovation.

In Zack’s heart of hearts, he ached for Sephiroth and still viewed him as his best friend and lover. To see him with another man was more than he could bear to stand. He wasn’t about to just stand around allowing that to happen, no. He would stop being such a gutless coward and would go get his man back.

Vincent stirred to wakefulness feeling warm and comfortable as someone embraced him, it didn't feel like a lover, yet it did. The only way he could describe the feeling, was like how it used to feel awakening in his parent's bed when little after being taken there after a bad dream or imagined monster. Vincent had always had a very active imagination, so had wound up there a lot. He likened this feeling to that one of waking up feeling warm and safe snuggled between those that he loved more than anything in the world. He opened his eyes. "Oh, you're finally awake," a voice of amusement said.

"Sephiroth," he said looking up to where his beautiful face was propped up on one hand, while his green eyes looked tenderly upon him.

"I thought you would sleep the day away, I don't think I have ever met someone so cuddly in my life, you have been plastered against me all night long. But with your body, I'm not complaining," he teased the special effects artist, earning a blush from him.

"You did sleep, right?" Vincent asked him.

"Like a baby, don't tell anyone but I love cuddling, body warmth always puts me to sleep," Sephiroth admitted.

"Me too, kissing is what I missed when, you know but sleeping with someone is another part of it. I could get used to this," Vincent said, wishing he didn't have to get out of bed. He wanted to stay how he was forever being held by the other man, even if it meant that the other man's pajamas separated them.

"You have such beautiful eyes when you don't wear your contacts," Sephiroth said.

"You really think so?" Vincent asked him.

"Let's see, they are almost almond in shape and heavily lashed. You really look much better without your contacts," Sephiroth declared and ran a finger over the arch of Vincent's cheekbones and Vincent melted into that simple touch. Sephiroth impulsively kissed one of his eyelids and Vincent made a soft noise. Both knew they should get out of bed, but lingered after both being deprived of affection for so long.

"You do that again and I'm going to want to kiss you," Vincent said in a teasing voice.

"Without brushing our teeth? Mr. Valentine. You like to live dangerously," Sephiroth said with a hitch in his sexy voice.

Vincent rolled on his side to bring his own bare chest flush with the soft cotton of Sephiroth's pajamas and draped his arm around his broader body, cuddling him closer. "Kiss me," he all but breathed and Sephiroth lowered his head and captured his lips and both felt drunk on the sensation as they first gently and then more frantically kissed. Sephiroth's hand slid unimpeded down Vincent's back to cup a softly rounded, yet firm buttock in his hand and all hell broke loose and when they came to, they were _grinding_ their heavy erections together, separated only by a few scant centimeters of blue plaid cotton.

"Sephiroth, I think we should get out of bed," Vincent said with his face flushed.

"Good-good idea," Sephiroth all but stammered, never having been swept away like that by simple kiss before. "I need to start my exercise routine," he said as he rolled out of bed and grabbed a fresh t-shirt and a pair of bicycle shorts and Vincent froze at this, his face a blotchy mess of blushes as Sephiroth took his top off and lowered his pajama bottoms.

He looked over his shoulder and was surprised to find Vincent was staring at him like he had never seen a man's ass before. "What, are you okay? Are you having some kind of reaction to last night?" He asked him out of concern when he turned around and pulled up his bicycle shorts. "Does my changing in front of you bother you? I can change in the washroom if you prefer. I thought seeing how often I've seen you naked, that nudity didn't bother you."

Vincent shook himself to clear his head, not believing how awestruck he had been of how good the other man looked naked. "It truly doesn't, please feel free to change in front of me as often as you want," he said.

"I'm going to order breakfast and take a cold shower," Vincent supplied, trying to stop staring at the bounty that was packed into those skin-tight shorts, it was all he could do not to peel them from him and take him right on his ridiculous yoga mat.

"Are you okay this morning?" Sephiroth asked him as Vincent slipped into the lounge pants that Sephiroth had gifted him yet kept them low on his hips. He could see bruises forming on Vincent's chest and suddenly felt a wave of protectiveness towards him.

"I'm fine thanks to you, I was so scared," Vincent admitted. "I can normally take care of myself..." He said but his words fizzled out.

"There is no shame in needing help, I couldn't have defended myself against so many people, it was adrenaline and that they weren't expecting me to react as I did that allowed me to punch them out. You would have done the same for me," he said stepping forward and taking him into his embrace, just wanting to be close to him. To feel his silky hair against his cheek and lithe body in his arms.

Vincent sighed and leaned into his embrace and then after another brief kiss, left to order breakfast and shower.

Vincent retrieved the newspaper the hotel provided from in front of the door as a prop for pretending not to watch the other man as he moved with fluid grace from position to position. He pretended to read it while admiring the beauty that was Sephiroth. However, he was rather disturbed by something that had occurred the night before when they kissed and that had been confirmed this morning; kissing Sephiroth had caused his whole body to tingle.

Flashback

A seventeen-year-old Vincent was helping his father prepare Christmas dinner when he looked at his parent's wedding photo. "When did you know you were going to marry Mom?" He asked him.

"Right after I first kissed her. It showed me that she was the one," Grimoire explained as he expertly stuffed the turkey.

"The one?" He asked him.

His father looked at the boy who so closely resembled his dead wife. "You're old enough to know the family secret. When you meet the one you’re meant to be with, your whole body will tingle when you kiss them. It happens to all Valentine men," he said.

"Wouldn't that only work if you kiss women?" Vincent asked him. His father knew full well he was gay and accepted it just fine and welcomed any of his boyfriends into their home, even the ones he didn't much care for. Even a man whose heart knew no bounds didn't like jerks he thought unworthy of his son.

"It shouldn't matter, it happened for your great-uncle Gerald when he first kissed your great-uncle Matt and one day it shall happen for you. I hope they will make you as happy as your mother made me," he said kissing his son's cheek in a way that caused the teenager to blush at how childish a gesture it was.

End Flashback 

Vincent shook his head to clear it and idly wondered if his father would have liked Sephiroth and had the impression he would have, he would have teased him good naturedly about his fussy nature, but would have certainly approved of him. Vincent found himself wishing he could have introduced them. Vincent frowned when his eyes fell on a familiar looking couple in a photo and then grew round when he realized what he was looking at. "Sephiroth," he said to get his attention.

Sephiroth looked up from where he was actually mediating with his legs crossed and hands on his knees. "Ommmmm," he chanted and then opened up one eye. "What is it, Vincent? I'm just trying to calm my energy after last night," he explained.

"You should read this," he said and Sephiroth took the paper. "Billionaire Pharmaceutical Mogul, Sephiroth Crescent Caught in Wedlock with Special Effects Artist, Vincent Valentine," the headline proclaimed and he looked at the photo, the scene did look rather suggestive but still...

"Married, why do they think we're married?" Sephiroth snapped.

"We're in the bridal suite," Vincent deadpanned. "I guess we should cut our vacations short, I'll call the studio and tell them to contact their press agent to insist on a retraction," he said.

"No," Sephiroth insisted.

"No? But what will people think? I mean your stock could possibly go down if you were to get involved with someone like me," Vincent said.

"I would never allow how much I'm worth dictate who I should be with. Even if it were true, you're not at all as you seem, you're kind and thoughtful and gentle. I know now that you try to hide that, but it's true of you. You teach art to underprivileged children for Goddess’ sake. A person would be privileged to be with someone as wonderful as you. I'm not leaving and neither are you. I've never met someone I'm so naturally comfortable with, that I can talk to so easily and I'm not ready to lose this just yet. With most people, I'm socially awkward or they just want to bed me. We have another week here; would it be so horrible to pretend what people believe is true? I'm not saying that we break your celibacy, but I would like to spend as much time with you as possible before we have to return to our real lives," Sephiroth said and then blushed, having never been as open with his feelings to anyone before.

"You are proposing we be fake spouses?" Vincent asked him.

"I just want to be with you, I'll kiss and touch you as much as you want and you can leer at me while I do yoga," he added, letting Vincent know he was on to him. "We can set everyone straight when we get back to our regular lives. What do you say?" He asked the beautiful male. Vincent answered him by latching onto him and kissing him again and again as waves of tingles spread all over his body in a way they never had before. He felt dizzy at the sensation and longed to take the other man back to bed.

Breathless, he finally leaned back. "Don't you usually go jogging this time of day?" He asked him. "Mind if I join you?"

"Give me a few minutes while you steal a pair of my bicycle shorts. It's not decent for me to leave at the moment" Sephiroth said looking down with a blush.

Vincent snickered, "Yeah, me too. So, what are you doing today?" He asked him conversationally.

"Whatever you want to do, I don't want to be without you for a minute until our final week is up," Sephiroth said, saying out loud what Vincent wanted in his hearts of hearts.


	4. Part IV

They were giddy as the newlyweds people thought they were as they spent every minute together, it didn't matter what they did as long as they were together. One day they rented a convertible and Vincent drove them around the island at top speed as silver hair married black as it streamed behind them. Or they went snorkeling and admired the coral reef or even just walked on the beach holding hands. Most events ended up with them endlessly kissing and basking in the tender smiles they received from other guests or Carnival attendees to see a couple so in love. They always stayed close when together and touched each other in small affectionate ways and slept in each other's arms each night, though Sephiroth wore his pajamas still. They didn't have sex, one thinking it was too soon for the silverette and the other one thinking the brunette simply didn't want to due to his personal decision.

With Vincent not drinking so much and steering clear of the bar, his lifestyle started to alter. He started to follow Sephiroth's schedule and worked out at the same rate as him, though yoga wasn't something he picked up easily compared to the almost boneless seeming Sephiroth. With him being more active during the day, his all black attire became too much for the sun and heat and he started borrowing heavily from Sephiroth's own neutral toned wardrobe and Sephiroth found he didn't mind sharing his clothes as long as it was Vincent. His diet improved under Sephiroth's tutelage and he would find himself asking the waiter how his meat was slaughtered, if it was organic and were the vegetables, too? He began to actively seek out recycling bins for what he normally would have dropped into the trash without a second thought. Then he began to learn of how the planet was being threatened as Sephiroth answered his endless questions in his silky voice that Vincent could listen to for hours.

Vincent felt conflicted when he received the message from his studio. "I'll only be gone a couple of hours, it's stupid publicity that is being locally filmed. I can't do it here because they want some local glowing cave as a backdrop. I know I promised to spend every second with you..." He said with worry in his voice.

"Go be Batman. I'll be here waiting for your return," Sephiroth assured him.

"You could come if you want," Vincent suggested. "There's going to a local girl filming it, it's just to promote a movie. It's an interview with some dumb magazine," he explained.

"I don't think glowing caves are my thing, I might get bored and start doing yoga and distract you," Sephiroth teased.

"Okay, I'm going to need to go in full gear tonight," Vincent declared.

"How is that different from usual?" Sephiroth asked him.  He watched in surprise as Vincent pulled on baggy black leather pants that sported a buckled gun hostler on one side. Next came tall dark brown leather boots that folded over at the top just before his knee. They had a band of gold armor around the ankles, then three separate segments plates at the toes that terminated into uncomfortable looking points. The black leather shirt had multiple buckles at various points and over this went tall gloves. The one on the left resembled a clawed robotic looking arm that matched the plates on his boots. Finally, he pulled on a crimson ragged cape with a stand up round collar that buckled in front. He wrapped his head with a matching crimson scarf under his hair so that it stood up in unruly lengths. With his red contacts in, he looked like a cruel angel.

"Hail Lord Satan," Sephiroth said in a sardonic sounding voice.

"Not Satan, I'm just a minor demon. I call myself Chaos when dressed like this. It's just a persona, it's a very competitive business, so you do what you have to do in order to be recognized and remembered. Hard work and integrity only go so far," he explained in a sheepish sounding voice.

Sephiroth looked at Vincent and realized he was perhaps one of the most sincere and genuine people he had ever met for someone in his industry and could suddenly see himself willingly going to the same dull parties he used to dread with this man. Vincent wouldn't abandon him in the need to talk to people who could promote his career. He wouldn't flirt shamelessly in front of him with other men. Vincent wouldn't parade him before the paparazzi like he was nothing more than a trophy as Zack had, Vincent would try and keep them away from him. Vincent was everything Zack had never been to him and in a couple days they would have to part and that made Sephiroth feel sad. Vincent and he belonged in different worlds and Sephiroth didn't believe in long distance relationships. Sadly, he stepped forward and gave Vincent the sweetest kiss he had ever received that made his knees feel weak. "Go do your interview and then come back to me," he said.

Vincent felt ridiculous at how he missed the silver haired man with each turn of the limousine's wheels. He felt pathetic, he had been celibate for five years and was missing a man he had left less than five minutes ago!  He was looking out the window when he happened to catch a glimpse of a window display in sex shop. "Stop!" he shouted at the driver who screeched to a halt. Vincent was out of the car before it stopped moving, he managed to completely scare the bored androgynous looking blond male whose nametag read "Rufus" when he came in wearing his demon gear, red contacts and all. "I would like to purchase the outfit in the window, only in size large," he demanded without preamble.

Sephiroth was reading when the door opened. "That was fast. How did your interview go?" He asked Vincent and was silenced with a kiss and Vincent took his hand in his own, giving it a soft squeeze before releasing it.

"Sephiroth, I want you to wear this for me if you're willing," he said placing a bag in his hand.

Sephiroth opened the bag and looked at it, not sure what he was looking at, until he pulled it out and could feel his face turning red at the sight of the underwear that matched Vincent's own he'd saw _that_ day, only there appeared to be an equally sheer t-shirt. He felt embarrassed just looking at them. He wasn't one given to wearing anything provocative, his clothes were chosen for practicality and made of cotton with natural dyes only. He certainly didn't view himself as sexy. His eyes returned to Vincent who looked back at him. "I want to make love to you if you're ready. Only if you want to," Vincent encouraged him.

"But you're celibate, I don't want to...." Sephiroth said and his voice trailed off.

"I'm ready and I want you if you want me. I want this time to be special between us. Please, will you let me love you?" Vincent asked him in a soft, shy voice that spoke right to his heart. Wordless, Sephiroth took the barely there clothes and went into the washroom. His hand trembled as he took off his clothes until he was bare as the day he was born and put on the revealing garments that were meant to tease.

Vincent had only had time to rid himself of the cape, boots, his socks, gloves and his contacts when Sephiroth returned. He caught his breath at how the sheer garments molded themselves to Sephiroth's body, showing every dip and groove of his lean, but muscular body and made his pale skin look so stark. The underwear accentuated the curve of his manhood and showcased it. Sephiroth himself looked self-conscious but, allowed Vincent to drink him in as he looked at him full on, in profile and finally turned around, flipping his hair forward with a nervous gesture to expose to his gaze his broad back and the teasing curve of his bottom. He yelped in an undignified way when arms snaked around him and hands ran all over him while Vincent teased the length of his neck, Sephiroth moaned and angled his head, allowing Vincent access to the long expanse of his pale throat. Sephiroth was turned in his arms as Vincent kissed him while grinding his own heated length through his leather pants against Sephiroth's own barely there underwear until his own large erection strained them. "Beautiful, you look so beautiful," Vincent breathed into his ear as he stroked his hands down his back to lovingly cup a cheek of his delectable ass in each hand, drawing him nearer.

"Vincent, I want to undress you," Sephiroth said, mad with desire.

"Please," Vincent said and moaned and shifted as Sephiroth first took off his leather shirt and kissed his way slowly down his chest, following the path of each button, then placed it on a nearby chair. On his knees with Vincent studying him like he was a priceless work of art, he undid the belts at his waist and unzipped the pants and allowed them to sag on Vincent's slender hips. Gently he guided them down Vincent's never ending legs until Vincent stepped out of them and placed them with the shirt. Vincent now wore only a pair of low rise black underwear. Sephiroth looked up at him as he caressed his chest and sides.

Vincent's own natural eyes revealed every emotion that came into them, causing Sephiroth to speculate that he wore the contacts to lock the world out. His eyes revealed a mixture of desire and nervousness and a tenderness that took his breath away. Removing the final barrier to Vincent's body, his eyes locked greedily on the huge erection that bobbed before his eyes. He knew that Vincent would need relief before they actually coupled or it would be a short ride for the both of them. Sephiroth was a generous lover and wanted to take care of all of Vincent's needs. Leaning forward, he took as much of Vincent's huge endowment between his sensuous lips as he could and Vincent gasped out as Sephiroth bobbed up and down along his length while nursing on him like a baby on a teat. His suction was incredible and Vincent soon had his hands entwined in all those masses of silver hair to massage his scalp as Sephiroth treated him to a stunning display and the blowjob of the century; it was like he had no gag reflexes.  Vincent as trembling as his climax built far too soon for his liking, his pent-up body badly in need of release.

Sephiroth stroked along the length of Vincent's long pale thighs and played with the hardening ovals of his testicles as he prepared for the flood that was to come.

"Sephiroth I'm going to-" Vincent gasped and Sephiroth grabbed his ass cheeks and held him firmly in place as Vincent's cries resonated around the room while Sephiroth's oral cavity was flooded time and time again as he swallowed it down until there wasn't a drop left. "That was...wow," Vincent said, his brain scrambled from his release and he was about as intelligent as a talking cumquat at the moment. "But you received no pleasure," he said with a frown.

"You weren't going to last. You will be better on the second round," Sephiroth explained.

"What second round?" Vincent asked when that clinging mouth reclaimed his softening organ and brought him back up to life until Vincent was anxious to have Sephiroth. "I need you right now," he gasped.

"How do you want me?" Sephiroth asked him with a hungry pant in his voice. 

Espresso colored eyes now nearly completely black from lust, stared unfocused for a few moments as he tried to process that question properly in his mind. How did he want him?  Truthfully, he could easily think up dozens of ways he’d like to have him now, but obviously couldn’t do them all at once. The only thing he was certain of right now was that he wanted to see his face, watch his features contort in pleasure as he took him.

“I want you to keep this on,” said Vincent, one hand tracing Sephiroth’s abdominals over the sheer black material, his eyes following his hand. His other hand slid underneath the shirt to caress and rub at the smooth, hard flesh. He glanced up and added, “And I want to see your face.”

Sephiroth shuddered at that, heat shooting through his body as he felt immensely relieved that Vincent wanted to be face to face. He liked being able to connect to someone, to see them when they paired together. Unfortunately, Zack hadn’t been the same way and had stuck mostly to the same positions that usually had one of them facing away. Sephiroth didn’t dislike being bent over, or on his hands and knees, but it was boring and disappointing to have sex the same exact way _every_ single time. It was still enjoyable to an extent, yet it felt disjointing and mechanical. Strange thing is Zack hadn’t used to be _that_ way. He used to be more inventive and used to like seeing Sephiroth’s face, but after awhile, he had changed and drifted away. The silver-haired male suspected that it was guilt and his infatuation with Genesis that had prompted Zack to always make love to him the same exact way. Clearing his head of these thoughts since they weren’t helping, he focused his attention back on the dark-eyed man. It still hurt to think about Zack, but the pain wasn’t as intense or as consuming. Right now, he was filled with warmth and a light-hearted infatuation that could easily turn into love if Vincent stayed with him. However, Sephiroth knew they had different lives and as much as he wanted a real relationship with this kind man, he didn’t want to string Vincent along, have him pining for him long-distance. But for now, he would enjoy him and remember these experiences for as long as he lived.

“Lay down,” said Vincent, who stepped back to grab his pants. He searched one or two pockets until he found the bottle of lubricant. Looking back at the bed, he bit his lip at the image of Sephiroth lying on the bed, propped up by his elbows with one leg bent at the knee and the other straight with a pillow placed strategically under his hips. For a moment, he imagined him on his bed surrounded by his black satin sheets, vivid eyes and pale skin standing out starkly, almost glowing, like an innocent angel in the devil’s bed. But then he remembered his own need, _their_ need, and crawled onto the bed, his hand skimming against the bent leg as he settled himself between two long legs. Glancing down between Sephiroth’s spread legs, he openly admired the large cock that strained against the sheer material that trapped it beautifully. It was a shame he’d have to take the underwear off. It was also a shame they’d have to skip most of the foreplay for now, but there was always another time for learning every inch of that amazing body.

“Someone’s prepared,” remarked Sephiroth in amusement, glancing at the lube when Vincent had dropped it beside them to quickly peel his sheer underwear off, yet mindful not to rip it. He hissed when the cold air swirled suddenly around his hot genitals, but was relieved nonetheless when it was free from its prison.

Pouring a generous amount on his hand, Vincent teased, “Don’t worry, it was tested on _humans_.” And then he rubbed his hands together, the warming sensation of the lube heating against his skin. His attention snapped to the other man when he heard a low moan and noticed that Sephiroth, face etched in pure concentration, was in the middle of preparing himself to be penetrated by something far larger. Three lubed fingers in already, he worked quickly, yet carefully to stretch himself enough to receive Vincent. The dark-haired male, while slicking his entire length, watched in rapt fascination as his new lover opened himself up to his eyes. It was obvious he’d done this plenty of times before enough to be a pro, which relieved Vincent since he personally preferred to top. However, for Sephiroth, he’d ignore his own discomfort and preference if the other requested it of him.

Leaning over Sephiroth, Vincent smiled down at him before claiming his lips hard and deep, his tongue swirling around, tasting inside his mouth while he positioned himself just right between two impossibly long legs. Gripping Sephiroth’s hip to brace himself, he used his other hand to slowly guide his turgid member into the slick, relaxed orifice. Biting his lip, he had to control himself to go as slow and gently as possible into that tight heat that convulsed around the head of him. Or at least, that was his initial plan until long legs hooked around him and pulled him closer, which forced every inch of his erection to be swallowed by that velvet heat. Breaking the kiss, he gasped and shuddered from the unexpected pleasure that ripped through him without warning. The tingling sensation he’d felt before from their kisses was practically nothing compared to the searing, buzzing pleasure that warmed every inch of his normally cool to the touch body. It was so intense he had to hunch over, resting his forehead against the taller male’s chest to breathe deeply lest he accidentally come prematurely.

“You were taking too long,” explained Sephiroth and as if to prove a point, he clenched his already contracting muscles around the large dick that pleasantly filled him up, which made the man on top of him groan. The energy sizzling against his skin from the inside out made him feel uncharacteristically impatient and needy. He unhooked his legs from the slighter male’s body to press his feet flat against the bed to give himself more leverage so that he could rock back with more strength while his arms gripped the headboard.

Not needing any more incentive, Vincent began rocking into the pliant body underneath him. His thrusts were gentle and slow at first, but picked up speed and strength pretty quickly as the far from passive body underneath his own bucked against him, meeting every thrust with vigor. Hands snaked around him and down his back, dragging blunt, manicured nails against his pale skin, leaving red welts in their wake until they reached his flexing ass. The hands squeezed both cheeks before gripping them to pull him closer, if even possible. Vincent rammed into him harder and faster, grunting with every pump into that heavenly body that surged enthusiastically against him. Beads of perspiration rolled down the sides of his face and down his back, making his white skin glisten. He could see that Sephiroth fared no better, his face flushed and body covered by a thin sheen of sweat, making the sheer black shirt cling to his torso like a second skin. Watching the incredibly vocal and responsive man, Vincent thought this was the most erotic sight he’d ever seen in his life.

Feeling the urge to change positions, Sephiroth rolled them both over so that he was on top, straddling the slightly shorter man. Throwing his head back, gunmetal mane streaming back, the taller man angled himself before he thrusted his body down, crying out when the head of Vincent’s cock slammed against his prostate. Spurred by his need for fulfilment, he eagerly rocked his body, the muscles in his legs straining each time he lifted himself up before dropping right down. Opening his eyes, he looked down at the raven-haired man and their dilated eyes connected. It was in that precise moment that Sephiroth’s chest clenched almost painfully as a wave of intense, unforgiving emotion overcame him. It was then that he realized what he was feeling for the other man could be something akin to love. Little did he know that Vincent was feeling something strikingly similar to what he felt as they stared at each other through half-mast eyes.

Surging up to a sitting position, Vincent’s hands latched onto that round, yet muscular ass while he kissed up the moaning man’s neck until he reached his parted, moaning lips. Kissing back just as fervently, Sephiroth rocked down onto the length that massaged his sweet spot until the need for air caused both breathless men to break the sloppy, yet arousing kiss. The moment a firm, strong hand wrapped snugly around his neglected cock, thumb teasing the slit, Sephiroth tossed his head back and screamed his release as ropes of his own seed splattered against his stomach and chest. His inner muscles clenched hard, milking Vincent until the dark-haired man joined him in release, shooting a substantial load of his semen into the panting man that still rode his high. Neither man seemed to care that a copious amount of pearly white fluid leaked out around the softening organ still impaled in the body above him.

“That ex of yours is insane,” started Vincent, after they had both sufficiently calmed down enough from the previous strenuous activity. He turned his head to look at the taller male lying beside him. When he received a questioning look, he explained, “That’s the best sex I’ve ever had in my life and no, I’m not just saying that because I’ve been celibate for five years.”

Sephiroth hummed in agreement, eyes half-hooded and his body heavy and feeling as if he were floating on a silky cloud. The compulsion to just allow his eyes to slide closed so that he could drift asleep for a bit was there until the other man’s voice jolted him away from it.

“I’m surprised you didn’t make me wear a condom, fussy pants,” teased the espresso-eyed man. Realizing that he had come inside the other man without permission, Vincent had the decency to look remorseful for it. “I should have pulled out, I’m sorry.”

“I…as messy as it is, I like how _it_ feels…even though it’s messy and unsanitary,” admitted the silver-haired man, blushing cherry red now. If there was an accessible shower or tub, Sephiroth really didn’t mind having his lover come inside him. Sure, it was a mess and risked receiving a disease, but he rather much enjoyed it anyway. Lying on his back with a sheet draped over both of their hips, he could acutely feel the semen trickling out of him and further staining the already soiled bed. The impulse to get out of bed and clean everything was nagging at him though he’d probably dismiss it until he found the strength _and_ will to move.

Vincent nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry, I’ve been tested. I would never risk infecting you or anyone else.”

“It’s been…a month since I last had sex, and I had myself tested two weeks ago after Zack left me. Luckily for me, he didn’t infect me with anything. If he had…I would have pressed charges, or sued him,” said Sephiroth with a sigh. The wait for the test results had been agonizing for him so much so that a doctor had had to give him a sedative to calm him down though he normally didn’t accept drugs into his body.

“You know, the people who accuse others of being boring in bed are usually the ones who are the boring ones,” remarked Vincent, smirking a bit. It still perplexed him that someone would throw away such a sweet, sexy man who would always be worth more than a thousand tramps like Genesis.

Smirking back, Sephiroth sat up as he said, “I do admit Zack was nowhere near as good as keeping up with me as you are.”

“Come here,” said the umber-eyed man with a come-hither gesture that turned into him attempting to grab and snuggle the taller man.

“Oh, no you don’t. Shower first. We’re both filthy,” said Sephiroth as he slipped out of Vincent’s grasp and out of the bed quickly. He grimaced when some of Vincent’s seed dribbled down his leg. “I’m taking a hot bath; you should join me.”

With a low laugh, Vincent flopped back onto the bed in a cleaner spot. Eyes half-lidded, he murmured, “Nah, you go ahead. I think I’ll take a power nap…”

Twenty minutes later, Vincent was rudely awoken from his nap by the incessant, obnoxious sound of someone hammering away at the door. Growling, he slid out of the bed and jerked the closest pair of pants on before stalking to the door. Ripping the door open, he snarled, “What the fuck do you want?!”

Standing on the other side of the suite’s door was one Zack Fair, dressed up to impress and holding a bouquet of what looked like organically grown, very expensive red roses. He seemed like he had expected Vincent to be there, but not him shirtless, sporting a bedhead, and smelling strongly of sex.

Narrowing his dark eyes, Vincent bluntly asked, “Why the fuck are you here?”

“I’m here to speak with Sephiroth. I’m assuming he’s still here?” Asked Zack, matching the other man with a glare of his own. He bristled at the evidence of what the two had obviously recently done most likely in this very room. It had taken a lot of courage he hadn’t thought he had to come here tonight and he wasn’t about to back away because of the gothic man who glowered at him.

“Vincent? Who’s at the door?” Inquired Sephiroth as he strode over, wearing a white terrycloth bathrobe. His clean, damp silver hair was combed out to air dry down over his shoulders and back. His dirt-free, freshly scrubbed skin smelled faintly of almond and shea butter. Stopping beside Vincent, he froze the moment he caught sight of his ex-lover standing outside the room.

“Seph, we need to talk,” said Zack, who opted to ignore the man beside Sephiroth who looked as if he wanted to skin him alive and eat him. For all he knew, the artist was a cannibal who murdered people and then ate them bloody and raw.

Vincent glanced at the jade-eyed man and then frowned when he realized something. Though he was reluctant to do it, he felt as if this wasn’t any of his business. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk…”

“No, you’re not going anywhere, Vincent. Zack was just leaving,” spoke Sephiroth in a stiff voice, his eyes hard despite the moisture that gathered there.

“At least hear me out,” pleaded Zack, who was baffled by his ex-boyfriend’s hard demeanor. He’d never seen the man this way and it bothered him. Obviously, Vincent had done something to him to inspire such a drastic change in the normally passive man. “Please, Seph, I love you and I want you back. I was wrong to leave you, I know that now and that’s why I’m here. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I was a fool to choose Genesis over you.”

Bearing down on Zack, something in Sephiroth finally snapped, his voice rising in volume with each word he ground out. “So, I should hear you out, right? I should stand here and listen to you explain why you cheated on me, why you lied to me, and why you scampered away like the coward you are instead of talking to me then? You owed me an explanation _then_ , but you denied me it. Instead, you grabbed everything, even _my_ belongings, and ran off with that manwhore. You humiliated me in nearly every way imaginable, in the papers, on the internet, and on television, making me out to be some cold-hearted, frigid bastard. I loved you, treated you like a king, and you threw it right back in my face like garbage. Instead of talking to me, instead of saying you weren’t happy, that you wanted to end it, you fucked around with that stupid slut behind my back and denied me my closure. You ripped my fucking heart out and stomped on it until there was absolutely nothing left, and… _and_ to add insult to injury, because of your loose tongue, I had to get away from my own home just so I could breathe, so I could begin to heal. And now you’re back, claiming that you were wrong, which yes, you were wrong, but you’re still wrong now. If you loved me, you wouldn’t have hurt me.” Pausing to close his eyes, he took a deep breath before he opened his eyes to stare at Zack with pity in his malachite eyes. “But you did. You hurt me in a way no one ever has before and I cannot forget that. In time, I’ll forgive you, but I can never trust you again. You made your bed, Zack Fair, now go lay in it… _without_ me.”

"But I love you, I don't want to lose you!" Zack all but pleaded while Sephiroth crossed his arms over his expansive chest and glared back at him and the gothic man moved to stand at his side in silent support of Sephiroth. He would allow them to talk, but Vincent could feel waves of emotions coming from his new lover and didn't like him being hurt again. It was like Zack had come to rip the bandage off a still tender and barely healed wound and Vincent's fists balled in anger and he longed to strike out at the actor. 

"But you did lose me because _you_ threw me away like I was refuse. There is no way I'm getting back together with you. We are done," Sephiroth snarled, going to slam the door closed, denying Zack access to their room, but the actor forced his foot into the door and winced at the impact.

"Is it true? Are you married to this filth? Are you? Tell me," he demanded of the silver-haired man.

"The man wants you to leave," Vincent said in a deadly calm voice that would have made his staff flee in terror.

"That is none of your business..." Sephiroth began, but was interrupted when another man appeared at the door.

All three looked in shock at the extremely burly, muscular man. He had broad features and was ruggedly handsome with blue eyes, his shoulder length black hair was brushed straight back from a widow's peak. He had sideburns that came to sharp points at the sides of his head, that led to a scruff of beard at his chin. He wore the uniform of a hotel worker and his name tag read 'Angeal' and he carried what looked suspiciously like bed linen. "Someone ordered for fresh sheets," he said in a deep, masculine voice, indicating to the bundle in his arms.

"I called housekeeping from the phone in the washroom," Sephiroth explained to Vincent's quizzical look.

"Please come inside," Vincent said and then literally growled as Zack forced his way past the man and started pleading his case to an unswayed Sephiroth while Vincent hovered in front of the slightly taller man like a mother hen in defense of her chick before a fox. Meanwhile, the other larger male ignored the rest and impassively started stripping the bed. He noticed the mess of the sheets and proceeded to change them without comment.

"Get out!" Sephiroth cried, his emotions all in a tangle at having just shared his body with a person he might have just fallen for and would probably never see again, after leaving the next day and having a man he once loved in the same room as Vincent. It was all he could do not to break down into tears.

"Not until you say you will give me another chance. Surely you can't be serious about... _that,_ " he said with a distasteful glance at Vincent.

"I'm a better man than you will ever be," Vincent said and silently slipped his hand into Sephiroth's in support of him and Sephiroth gave it a squeeze.

"Take your filthy hands off of him!" Zack raged at Vincent.

"You have no right to be here. Vincent's right; he's a better man than you will ever be or have ever been to me, " Sephiroth said as he blinked tears from his eyes and his vision blurred.

"Fine. Who wants you? You were just rolling around with a man you barely know like a whore. You're nothing but a whore. You hear that, Sephiroth? I will tell the world that. I will go to the press and tell them that if they want a quote from me!" Zack cried.

"That's enough. You should leave," Angeal suddenly calmly said, looking up after making the bed.

"Why should I leave because a maid tells me to?" Zack demanded.

"I'm not a maid. It's the last night of carnival, so all the maids are given the night off. Therefore, the remaining staff cover many jobs outside of their actual roles to take up the slack. I'm head of security. Mr. Crescent and Mr. Valentine have been model guests and you are harassing them. As you are neither a paying guest or a welcomed guest of a guest, I have every right to ask you to leave. If you do not leave of your own accord, I shall be happy to expel you from the premises or call the police and have you arrested. I'm assuming that wouldn't look great for the papers?" Angeal said to the smaller man. "As to their marital status; I acted as witness at their ceremony. If you go to the press and imply someone's legal spouse sells themselves to anyone who is willing to pay them, you're looking at grounds for being sued for defamation of characters and both Mr. Valentine and Mr. Crescent have deep pockets."

"You have no right to ask me to leave. I'm here to talk to my boyfriend," Zack said.

"The same boyfriend and Mr. Valentine's spouse that you just called a whore? That doesn't seem like a loving nickname to me. No, you are his ex-boyfriend and are interfering his new relationship. Mr. Crescent, would you and your spouse like this man to leave?" He asked them.

"Yes," Vincent said in a quiet voice.

"You should be ashamed of yourself for disturbing a newly wedded couple," Angeal admonished him.

"Do you know who I am?" Zack demanded as he backed towards the door.

"Yes, you're a spineless jerk who threw away gold for trash, Zack Fair. Of course I know who you are and I know that you're not wanted here. As for Genesis, been there, done that _whore,_ " he said with contempt in his voice.

Zack glared at all three men and then silently left. Vincent put his arms possessively around Sephiroth who just clung to him, burying his face into his neck and greedily inhaling his scent. "Thank you," he said to Angeal.

"It's not a problem, I was just doing my job...and changing your sheets," he ruefully added, picking up the soiled bundle. "I'm a huge fan, Mr. Valentine."

"My card, call me if you're interested in trying out for movies. Guys with interesting features like you, we always have roles for. You know we're not married, right?" He said as he held Sephiroth and longed to be alone with him but sensed the other man would leave soon.

"I know. I was just fucking with him. This place keeps tracks of wedding dates and anniversaries just so that we can send small presents to past guests to encourage them to return. If you had married locally; we would have known it," Angeal explained.

"So, you were lying about Genesis?" Vincent asked him.

"I wish I were, the skank whore bitch gave me the clap. I shall leave you two in peace," he said and discreetly left.

"It's okay, Sephiroth. Zack's gone, he'll never bother you again," Vincent soothed as he led him to the now clean bed and sat him down and wiped tears from his eyes with his thumbs. He cupped the high arch of his fine cheekbone and Sephiroth placed his own hand over Vincent's, basking in his attention of his inherent kindness. 

"I'm sorry, I felt overwhelmed," he explained as he gathered his thoughts together. "But you being here calmed me. Why do you have this effect on me?" He asked Vincent.

Vincent had no answer for that, he noticed that Sephiroth's presence calmed his own anger for the most part, too. "You must trust me. Why don't you lie down while I shower myself clean so I can come to bed and hold you while you sleep?" He suggested.

"There is nothing I want more in the world than that right now," Sephiroth said and allowed Vincent to tuck him into bed and hang up his robe. Vincent offered to get him pajamas but Sephiroth declined, wanting Vincent's skin on his own.  Sephiroth was asleep when Vincent slipped silently in bed beside him, but Sephiroth molded his body around him, drawn to his body warmth and sighed. Vincent kissed one of his angelic cheeks and fell asleep with a cuddling and contented Sephiroth.


	5. Part V

Sephiroth was up early as ever the next day, but didn't go put on the music and begin his stretching routine. Instead, he waited as the sun rose and bathed the room with a soft light while he watched the disheveled looking Vincent as he slept, he looked so young and innocent that Sephiroth didn't want to wake him. For him to wake meant that Sephiroth and Vincent would have to repack and separate. He didn't want to, he questioned when he had fallen for the man so hard before they even slept together. However, Sephiroth knew that he wanted one more time together. So he leaned over and captured Vincent's lips.

Vincent opened his eyes to find Sephiroth kissing him and eased his arms around him as he kissed him back while the soft flesh of Sephiroth's toned chest lay half on top of his own. "You couldn't wait for me to wake up?" He teased him while his hands traversed the smooth expanse of his back to cup the rounded cheeks of his derriere.

"I need you right now," Sephiroth said. "I want you one more time before we have to..." He said and looked to the side when tears pricked him vision.

Vincent could feel tears swimming in his own eyes and bit his lip. He took Sephiroth's face his hands, cradling the visage of the person he had come to care so much about and pulled him into a soft and sensual kiss that had tingles spreading all over his body. Their tongues danced together in a teasing way as they made love in a slow way. Their hands were all over each other, exploring, learning how to please their lover. Sephiroth finally offered Vincent the lube and got on all fours with a teasing wiggle of his bottom, that he had already guessed was Vincent's favourite part of him. He looked over his shoulder and winked saucily at Vincent while Vincent's lube coated fingers teased his relaxed hole and coated himself. With a couple of gentle nudges at his entrance to bliss, he was deeply seated in the searing heat of Sephiroth.

Vincent however, didn't start to hammer away at him as Zack had, instead, he leaned forward and placed his cheek alongside Sephiroth's and drew him into a kiss as he moved inside him at an unhurried pace that had Sephiroth moaning. He wanted to draw it out. He wanted to sear their coupling into Sephiroth's brain as he made love to him as if they were beloved spouses rather than near strangers. They mapped out their bodies with each kiss and touch until it seemed like their hearts beat in time. Vincent showed Sephiroth with his body what he was afraid to say out loud as the ever limber Sephiroth flowed from position to position as if doing an erotic dance and when they finally came, both people struggled not to cry in splendor because it had been so moving and beautiful an experience. They held each other while struggling to bring their emotions in check. "It has never felt like this before," Sephiroth panted into Vincent's ear as he drew the still panting man into the circle of his arms. He leaned back and tucked the damp fringe of part of his bangs behind his ear, his green eyes were bright with emotion and Vincent just softly kissed him in answer.

After finally taking a leisurely bath together that involved much cuddling and kissing, they had a final breakfast together and grimly packed up, knowing their parting was inevitable. The porters came for their bags and left the two alone one final time.

"We could try dating, long distance that is," Vincent finally suggested to Sephiroth when all he wanted to do was cling to him and never let him go.

Sephiroth looked sideways, "No, it wouldn't be fair to either of us. I don't believe in long-distance dating. We would promise to see each other every weekend and then that would go on for a while, that would dwindle to once a month with the occasional holiday that would have to fit around your demanding career. It's best we not," he said when all he wanted to do was beg Vincent to come with him.

"I suppose you're right. We could stay in touch through the occasional phone call, texts and emails," Vincent said in a calm sounding voice while his brain shrieked, “ _I love you, don't leave me. Mine, you're meant to be mine!_ ”

"I would like that," Sephiroth said while his own brain pleaded with him to kidnap Vincent and take him home with him if he must. Imagining nights of shared dinners filled with intelligent conversation and them endlessly making love, it seemed so wonderful in his mind's eye. They shared one more kiss and a clinging hug in the privacy of their room before leaving silently together. The entire staff had pretty much shown up for their departure, along with a lot of hungover maids; they had become popular with the staff and they were sorry to see that nice couple leave.

Sephiroth put on his sunglasses to disguise that he was about to burst into tears as he shared one more look as Vincent got into his own limo.  Vincent's tears started as soon he had closed the door behind him. Sephiroth's started as soon as his own limo departed for the private airfield and Vincent's went in the opposite direction of the public airport.

Sephiroth went home to his mansion and then decided he couldn't stand the thing anymore and listed it and stored the majority of his stuff.  He immediately moved into an eco-friendly apartment owned by his company to host guests, he didn't need much, only a place to charge his electric car and lay his head. He felt positive about the move, yet even with reduced space, his apartment seemed so empty and himself, so lonely.

As for Vincent, it didn't take him long to go back into his old routine, but his staff were shocked when he demanded that recycling bins be put everywhere in the office and they have green bins put in the kitchen. Also, his meals became a lot harder to order when they had to make certain everything was organic and the meat slaughtered cruelty-free. His temper ran hot as ever, yet he seemed sad and without purpose.

It was during a brainstorming session with a producer that Vincent had an epiphany. They were trying to figure out a villain for their new movie. They wanted him to be sexy to attract fangirls and fanboys and make a mint on merchandizing. "Sephiroth," Vincent said, doing a quick sketch of him; he didn't have to use a picture, he knew his face and body from memory...not to mention his taste.

The producer frowned at that sketch. "That's Sephiroth Crescent, we can't use his look without permission and he looks about as scary as a cup of Ovaltine," the producer objected.

"So we modify him. Let's give him glowing green slit pupil eyes. Let's say he's a renegade soldier driven mad by a corrupt government," Vincent said, sketching away.

"And he wears a tight black leather uniform, girls like attractive men in black leather." Vincent frowned at this, knowing Sephiroth's stance on leather. Sephiroth wanted to become a vegan but his active lifestyle demanded more protein then a vegan diet allowed, so he had had to settle for organically raised, cruelty-free slaughtered meat. "I'll leave it up to you to design his uniform but have him show some skin, we want him to have lots of sex appeal," the producer suggested.

"Now what about a weapon?" Vincent prompted him.

"Something long and impressive and phallic, a sword, like a katana, only much longer. Sephiroth's a good name, let's call him that. He'll only have one name, like Sting or Madonna. So, what does he look like?" The producer asked.  Vincent grinned and held up his sketch page. "He's exactly what I'm looking for, a bad ass angel. Let's give him wings, no make it one wing only and make it black," he said. Vincent made the adjustments and held it up for inspection. "Girls everywhere are going to be creaming their panties," the producer said admiringly. "I'm not gay, but I would do him."

"Me too," Vincent said with such longing in his voice the producer looked sharply at him.

 

Sephiroth had stopped at a body shop to buy his favourite soap when a movie billboard caught his eye. 'Masamune: The Damned Warrior' it read, but it was the image that caused him to freeze, the villain looked just like himself! Well, himself if he had one large black wing, wore a leather outfit that left the majority of his upper chest bare, save for some kind of criss-cross harness. He carried a huge, oversized katana and had green glowing cat-like pupils and had a rather crazed smirk on his face.  "Vincent," he said without thinking. Some men would have been insulted by the brazen caricature of himself, but not Sephiroth. He knew the kind man better than that. To Sephiroth, it was a sign of Vincent's devotion to him, that he had used his image like this showed Sephiroth how much Vincent cared about him and was missing him. They had talked on the phone and exchanged emails, their conversations were polite and full of "I miss yous" because both were too afraid to say what they really wanted.

Sephiroth cancelled his appointments for the rest of the week and packed a bag and called his airfield to get his jet ready. Although Vincent's address wasn't listed anywhere, Sephiroth already had it and parked his car on the quiet residential street. He liked the house already, it was large without being overly so and obviously was old and stately. The roof could use some solar panels, he mused.

He found an emergency key concealed in a fake rock that was too shiny to be anything but fake and let himself into Vincent's home. He flicked on the light switch to be instantly bathed in blood red light, the walls were painted black and the artwork ran to the macabre. Sephiroth didn't think much of the décor as he moved from room to room but saw potential for redecorating, the place had good bones and all the appliances were energy efficient.

He finally arrived at the master bedroom. The bed was a California king size with an ornate wrought iron four poster frame with a blood red canopy on it made out of sheer curtain. He pulled back the red satin comforter and frowned at the black satin sheets, they looked cold and slippery and he didn't much care for the look. However, he took off his clothes and put on the present Vincent had given him the night before they had gone their separate ways. He hadn't worn them since that night. They had no place in Sephiroth's practical wardrobe, but now they would if things worked out the way Sephiroth hoped they would. In fact, they would probably be joined by more of the same or similar and his wardrobe would alter too. Sephiroth wasn't the sexy sort, but he would do anything to make his man happy.

He drew back the comforter and got slightly under the covers.

 

Vincent came home to find his door wide open and entered into his place without thinking, grabbing his gun from where is was hidden. Doing a sweep of each room, he was surprised to find nothing disturbed. He finally got to his bedroom and froze at what he found there as the long-haired male smiled at him, his smile wasn't seductive, Sephiroth probably didn't know how to smile that way. His smile was sweet and welcoming and it felt to Vincent like his heart expanded in his chest to find the vision he had hoped to see turn into a reality. "Sephiroth?" He said with a small shudder, afraid the vison wasn't true.

"I'm here. How can you stand these sheets? I feel like they are going to slip off me any second," he said in a teasing way.

"I wouldn’t mind if they did," Vincent said as calmly as possible while his heart hammered in his chest.

Sephiroth, pushed them back. He lay on his front with his legs extended behind him, his hair trailed along his back and was brushed over one hip to lay on the bed. Vincent's mouth went dry to see what he wore along his long, pale body and those up thrust cheeks of his behind turned in profile. Sephiroth grew impatient as Vincent just stood there staring at him. "Damnit, I need you now," he all but growled at him.

Vincent put his gun down and all but tore his clothes from himself. He joined Sephiroth in bed and helped him out of the diaphanous garments, he loved how they looked on him, but wanted him fully naked. They frantically kissed, they had much to say to each other but were too in need to connect bodily to talk. Each kiss enflamed them and fed their starving hearts.

Sephiroth soon cried out as Vincent hammered into him while Sephiroth lay on his back and one of Sephiroth's long legs was draped over his shoulder, the position caused him to pound against Sephiroth's sweet spot in a way that made Sephiroth see stars behind his tightly clenched eyes. "Perfect, you feel so perfect," Vincent cried out at how hot and tight Sephiroth was. "I want you to be mine forever," he demanded as he stroked the large column of Sephiroth's dick until he came heavily until drops of pearly white cum bedewed the pale skin of his stomach. Vincent soon followed him as he coated his clinging walls. It was Vincent who got them warm washcloths to clean up with and he ran a bath for them to share in his large old tub.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in love with me?" Sephiroth softly asked him.

"I didn't want you to think I was weird falling for you in such a short time," Vincent said, not denying it.

"I love you, too," Sephiroth admitted.

"So, what do we do?" Vincent asked him.

"I need a place to stay, I sold my mansion," Sephiroth said giving Vincent a heartbreaking smile.

"You're welcome to stay here," Vincent said as a feeling of warmth spread throughout his entire body that the man he loved wanted to move in with him. "But what about your work?" He asked him.

"There are offices all over the world, including here. I can do most directing remotely by email or cell phone. If you don't mind," he said. "I know that I'm not the easiest person to live with, I have so many habits and quirks..."

"Then bring them here, I want you here with me. I'll marry you if I have to. I just want you. You were destined for me," Vincent said and then blushed at how he had said too much.

"How do you mean destined?" He asked him and Vincent blushingly told him about the love tingles his father had explained to him.

"Whenever I kiss you, it causes you to tingle?" Sephiroth said in amusement.

"Each and every time. I wish you could have met my father, he would have liked you," Vincent said.

"I suspect that you're a lot like him, so I feel like I have. So, should I make you tingle some more?" Sephiroth teased him.

"I think the same thing enhances the sensation of having sex with you, too. I haven't had sex with anyone since you. Our first time, it has never felt that way with anyone else before. You ruined me for anyone else. It was like a religious experience making love with you," he admitted.

 "Funny you should say that, while up on top of the mountain, I asked the Goddess for unconditional love and to meet a kind person with a beautiful soul. It suddenly felt like my wish was granted, it's hard to explain but..." Sephiroth said.

"I know what you mean," Vincent said, remembering the invisible touch and light display from that day while waiting for Sephiroth to return. "I guess we were meant to be."

"I don't need a ring to bind you to me and I understand you will have to work late hours sometimes..." Sephiroth said.

Vincent said, "But I will always come home to you and shall call each and every time I'm going to be late. We will have to go to dull industry parties, but not stay all night or anything and will only go to the important one. I'm a homebody to be honest with you."

"Great now we have to compromise on this décor, you have an actual coffin as your coffee table," Sephiroth candidly observed. "Do you sleep in it upon occasion?" He asked him facetiously.

"Who sleeps in a coffin?" Vincent said with a snort. "I've had sex in it a couple times though," he admitted.

Sephiroth eyed it speculatively. "How?" He asked him, perplexed.

"I'll show you later," Vincent said with a leer. "I'm willing to negotiate about the décor. We'll pick out the changes we will make together. The third bedroom would make a great home office for you," he volunteered and he looked questioningly when Sephiroth removed the rubber band from Vincent's wrist.

"No more abusing your wrist. You're not going to need this from now on, your staff shall have a much more contented version of yourself. You're going to work tomorrow and I'll greet you at the door with a blow job on your return and then you can lean me against the wall and take me. I'll prepare myself for your return," Sephiroth promised him.

"I think I could get used to coming home to that," Vincent said in approval.

 

Vincent slept until the person beside him stirred and stole from the bed and crept down the stairs. Vincent turned over and sniffed the air when the aroma of coffee filled the room. Slowly he woke up and got into his bathrobe and slippers and stole down the stairs when the Zen music went on. He smiled when he found his partner in downward dog position with his rear elevated high in the air and his arms and legs straight.

Sephiroth yelped to be suddenly pantsed as his bicycle shorts were yanked down. "What-what?" He stammered and dropped to his hands and knees as lubed fingers burrowed their way into his narrow channel, stretching and teasing. Vincent got on his knees on the yoga mat behind him as he shoved his bathrobe from himself and generously coated his swollen organ. "Sorry, if you're going to present yourself so shamelessly like that, I'm going to have to take you up on your offer," He said as he mockingly chided him.  

“I wasn’t offer— _OH_! God, _yesss_!” Protested Sephiroth at first before he was abruptly cut off by his own loud, throaty moan when his lover’s engorged cock plunged deep inside him. Hips thrusted insistently until every single inch was swallowed up by his convulsing channel. Clawing at the yoga mat, he arched his body and pushed back at the slighter man’s groin as if there was more that Vincent was somehow holding back from him. Whatever annoyance he had at being interrupted was soon forgotten in favor for the heat that flared in his belly and spread throughout his body. His Yoga routine, now insignificant to him, was quickly disregarded as the man mounting him, pounded him good and hard, making his fingers and toes curl as his prostate was ruthlessly rubbed and slammed against.

“That’s right. I’m God,” agreed Vincent with a gratifying moan as he eagerly pounded into that tight, divine heat that gripped him so exquisitely. Snapping his hips quickly and deeply, he angled himself just right so that he could nail the other man’s sweet spot with nearly every thrust. Blood rushing in his ears and the sounds of Sephiroth crying out and moaning repeatedly was more than enough to drown out the bothersome Zen noise.

Rocking back against the other man, Sephiroth looked over his shoulder, eyes half-lidded and sultry, he dared, “Prove it then…”

Pushing Sephiroth face down and pulling his ass up further and forcing his legs spread more apart, Vincent resumed pounding up into the yielding flesh that seemed to suck him right in with every brutal thrust. Every plunge into that body was faster and harder until Sephiroth could do very little except moan and take it, his eyes squeezed shut and his hands raking the mat. With a growl, the dark-haired man commanded, “Pray to me…”

In a litany of words, mostly Vincent’s name, keened or moaned out, Sephiroth begged for his release as his neglected cock slapped against his stomach with each stab into his clenching orifice. As much as he enjoyed slow or passionate love making, being roughly, almost brutally fucked like a whore made his body sing with unbridled pleasure.

It wasn’t long before both men met their releases in a series of fast, jerky thrusts and gasped moans. They both collapsed in a tangled heap of bodies on the now sullied Yoga mat. Lying on his back, Sephiroth welcomed Vincent, who crawled onto him so that he was resting half on top of him with his head on the larger man’s chest.

“Didn’t Batman tell someone to pray to him?” Asked Sephiroth with a little smirk as he stroked Vincent’s unruly, inky black hair out of his sweaty face.

Vincent chuckled and didn’t even care that his bathrobe was now stained by a good portion of Sephiroth’s semen. “If I recall, the man ended up _singing_ for Batman, like you did for me. Like you always do. I almost can’t believe you came without being _touched_...”

“Shut up,” snapped Sephiroth without any real anger, his flushed face reddening even more, if possible. He then grumbled, “You actually surprise butt sexed me…”

“Like you weren’t expecting it, with that ass wriggling up high in the air, all _begging_ to be fucked,” teased the espresso-eyed man before he sobered up when he realized something. Raising himself up a bit, he looked down seriously into the rosy face of his significant other. “Did…did that bother you?”

“If I hadn’t wanted it, I would have kicked you in the groin,” said Sephiroth, an indulgent smirk on his beautiful, content face. “I have to admit, that was a nice, early morning surprise. I didn’t think you’d be up…”

Feeling assured, Vincent dropped back down on Sephiroth without hurting him. He griped, “I think you play that god awful, seizure inducing racket just to wake me up, you prissy man, you.”

Sephiroth smiled gently. “I love you, too, _ass_.”

 

A year had passed for Vincent and Sephiroth since their fateful meeting and stay in the Bridal Suite at the resort. Since Sephiroth only had to make phone calls, compose e-mails, and do paperwork, all of which he could easily do from home, he spent most of his time doing chores around the house. Though both men could easily afford a housekeeper, Sephiroth preferred to clean everything himself since he had the time and strangely enough, enjoyed these domestic duties. Having some stranger around to touch their things and invade their space felt wrong to him. Sephiroth liked that this house was their own, was only for them and nobody else. He felt like a spouse since he kept the house clean, bills paid, dinner cooked, and lover more than satisfied. His eating habits and regular exercise gave him more than enough energy to take care of everything. Whenever Vincent told him that he did too much, didn’t need to do all that, Sephiroth merely smiled at him. He knew he didn’t have to do everything he did, but he still wanted to regardless. It made him feel good since he enjoyed taking care of his man.

True to Sephiroth’s word, Vincent’s stress levels lowered drastically over time and he refrained from drinking almost entirely. Each night he returned home, his beautiful lover greeted him at the door to _relieve_ him of his stress. Because he was able to unwind at home and relieve his stress regularly in whatever way he needed to, he snapped less at the people who worked for him. He was almost pleasant, though he still demanded perfection and still got angry occasionally. Each time his temper flared, he remembered beautiful malachite colored eyes and remembered who waited for him at home. Sex or just a kiss, Vincent was content just to come home to the man he loved above all others. Sephiroth was always waiting for him at home and unlike Lucas, always treated his friends and colleagues with the utmost respect even if he didn’t particularly like them. He even attended Vincent’s social functions, which were luckily not many, and kept at his side throughout the whole ordeal. In turn, Vincent never left him alone for more than a few minutes and always included him in conversations. Though they both didn’t care much for these social events, they endured them for one another and always stole away as soon as possible to go back home.

Two weeks after Valentine’s day, Vincent surprised Sephiroth with an anniversary trip to Costa Del Sol to the same Gold Saucer Resort they had originally met at. He even managed to secure the same tacky, overbearingly red Bridal Suite as before. As terrible as it was then, they both found it endearing the second time since it brought back a lot of fond memories for them. The staff were overjoyed at their return and all touched when they found out the couple were still ‘married’ and still madly in love. They ended up spending two weeks blissfully together without worries about work or anyone else. This time, the only kisses Vincent wanted were from the silver-haired man. Unlike last time, when they left the resort, they left in the same car, contently leaning on one another as a driver drove them to Sephiroth’s private jet.

All in all, both men were immeasurably happy together and made one another better over time. Sephiroth’s self-confidence grew exponentially and his OCD tendencies lessened over time. Vincent’s need for therapy dissolved and his anger management problems pretty much decreased enough for him to be calmer, less irritable man.

 

On one fateful day, Sephiroth was jogging through the park when he spotted a dark-haired man blocking his path. Stopping himself before he ran over said man, his mouth dropped open when he recognized the somewhat familiar face of one Zack Fair, staring back at him with a small, bashful smile.

Before Sephiroth could open his mouth, Zack raised a hand to silence him. Looking humble and nervous, two things the taller man had never seen in him before, the dark-haired man exhaled deeply. Upon closer inspection, Sephiroth noticed that Zack was wearing normal, cotton clothes, the same kind he himself usually wore. His hair wasn’t made up in expensive product and he even smelled different, _earthier_. It was obvious to him that something in Zack had changed, and drastically. Motioning to a park bench for them to both sit down on, he seated himself and waited respectfully for the other man to sit before he spoke.

 “Sephiroth…I’m not here to cause trouble, or to beg you to come back, I promise. I just wanted…to apologize to you. For everything I did, everything I said. I was wrong, and I knew it. I was angry at myself for throwing you away and I wanted you back, but instead of just accepting your relationship, I attacked you and I attacked your spouse. For that, I am also sorry. I know I threatened you, but I never followed through. I never tried to smear your name, I swear,” explained Zack as he watched some pigeons being fed by an elderly lady. Hands clasped in his own lap, he continued, “I had a lot of time to reflect…and I realized, I didn’t like who I had become. I used to be a different person, but then I got famous, and it all went straight to my head. Then I met you and chased after you, and you let me into your world. It was the best part of my life, being with you, knowing you, and I don’t regret it. I loved you then, and I still love you, but we’re not meant to be, I think. You…seem different somehow, better and more confident. You’re happy, I can see that now, and I think it’s because of him. I don’t know if I believe in true love or soul mates, but he’s obviously good for you, right for you. He’s a better man than I am and he deserves someone like you.”

Looking at his ex-boyfriend, Sephiroth didn’t know what to say to such an admission, so he kept silent. He had a hunch that the shorter man wasn’t finished talking, anyway.

“I dropped out of showbiz after that night. I didn’t like who I had become, so I couldn’t bear continuing to be that person. I sold my house and traveled the world without any real direction or goal. After months of traveling, I saw how…messed up the world really was and I remembered all of the things you always told me. I saw so many terrible things…things that kept me up at night, that angered and saddened me. You were right about all that, as well,” admitted Zack as he rubbed the back of his neck. He sighed. “I couldn’t continue a superficial life of privilege, being worshipped and paid millions of dollars for merely playing around in movies. Nor could I go on traveling around like a vagabond…so…I started volunteering wherever I could and even raising awareness for many causes. I met some nice, brave people along the way, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like…everything is all right. We might never win the battle in this lifetime, but I feel like we’re making progress, making a difference. The world won’t change overnight, of course. And for this, I thank you. You inspired me to change, to become a better person and to help people. I just wanted you to know that.”

A long silence hung between them, but it wasn’t necessarily an uncomfortable one. Sephiroth pondered his words carefully in his head before he decided that Zack was being genuine and had no ulterior motives. The ex-actor had changed in the past year so much so that he barely recognized Zack now that he looked at and listened to him.

“I did wonder where you went. You seemed to drop off the map. And…you do seem different compared to back then,” quietly said Sephiroth. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he fished it out to read a text from Vincent, which made him smile.

**To: Sephiroth**

_Don’t kill Zack, yet. He had a talk with me and isn’t a dick anymore. I told him where you were. Hear him out first then come home and snuggle with me._

“You have a lot of fans these days,” remarked Zack, smiling as he watched Sephiroth put his phone away. “I saw that Masamune movie. It was pretty good and that character looked so much like you, it was scary. I’m glad you’re not him in real life, haha. I would probably be in a thousand pieces.” Then Zack noticed some people staring, so he leaned over and whispered, “Though…I’ll warn you now, there’s a lot of fanfiction out there about that character, well _you_ , I guess, and a lot of it features you and Vincent’s alter ego, Chaos, even though he’s not an actual character in the movie. I bet you get stopped a lot in the street and in stores.”

Sephiroth nodded, blushing a bit as he remembered all those random people stopping him to question him or get his autograph. He never understood why they wanted _his_ autograph since he had not acted in the movie or did anything to earn such attention. If anyone deserved any attention, it was Vincent and the others that had worked tirelessly to make those movies. He’d spent a good amount of time on the set with Vincent watching him work and the others, too, which had made him realize how hard these people worked compared to the actors. He knew acting wasn’t easy, but he couldn’t help feeling like the people who spent countless hours behind cameras, setting and building sets, and working on computers worked harder at their jobs and received less compensation. Many of them enjoyed their jobs, that was clear, and when he noticed some of the actors hanging out with them and treating them kindly, it made his chest swell.

“Well, I’m going to go now. It was nice talking to you, seeing you again, Sephiroth. Go on, go home to your man,” announced Zack as he rose up to his full height. He had suspected that message that his ex-lover had been reading earlier was most likely a text message from that notorious special effects artist. In a way, Zack would always envy Vincent, although he felt now that the man did truly deserve Sephiroth, especially if he was able to make the man glow like a star. Turning away, he began walking away until he felt a hand grab him by the shoulder. Turning to face Sephiroth, he looked at him quizzically.

“Zack, it was nice seeing you again, too,” said Sephiroth and for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel any negative feelings in his being as he looked at his former lover. The pain had healed and the grudge had died over time from being loved by Vincent Valentine.

Zack smiled at him as he clapped a hand against the taller man’s shoulder. It was the only contact he would allow himself though he longed to embrace the silver-haired man, but knew better. “You, too. I hope you have a long, happy life with Dracula, uh, I mean, Vincent. I should have said so earlier, but I had a talk with him not too long ago and he’s actually really nice.”

Sephiroth smiled back at him; he wasn’t insulted by Zack’s little joke and knew the blue-eyed male meant no harm by it. Winking at him, he admitted, “I mostly call him Batman…but sometimes Dracula, too. You wouldn’t believe just how good he is at _sucking_ …”

 

At that exact moment, Zack had been drinking from a water bottle and ended up choking on the water and sputtering some of it out. He shot Sephiroth a look of sheepish gratitude when the man had patted him on the back. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he said, “You’ve changed, too, Seph.”

 

An hour later, Sephiroth walked into their residence to find Vincent reclining on the faux leather sofa with a tablet in his hand. He could tell his lover was sketching something out, most likely something for his work. Sometimes Vincent reluctantly brought his work home with him, but Sephiroth never minded. As long as he came home to him, he was happy. With that in mind, he hung up his coat and set his cell phone down on the table with his car keys. After his shoes were meticulously placed near the door, he padded over to Vincent and crawled onto the sofa to curl up against him, resting his head on his chest, listening to his heart beating very much alive in that chest. As much as he loved having sex with Vincent, it was intimate moments like this he cherished most. The ability to come home to this man, to hold him, and be held by him was one of the most pleasurable sensations he’d ever felt in his life. He also knew from the past, when they’d first met at that resort, that Vincent was an even bigger cuddler than he was.

“You don’t have to stop on account of me,” said the silver-haired man when he noticed Vincent had leaned over slightly to place his tablet on the coffee table. He shuddered a bit when he felt Vincent’s hands slide under his shirt to run up and down his back in soothing, random patterns. If he had been a cat man, he probably would be purring up a storm right about now.

“I wasn’t working, and even if I was…I’d rather enjoy you,” spoke Vincent, glancing at the tablet with a knowing smile. Sephiroth followed his gaze and blushed when the bright screen still revealed the professionally sketched form of a tastefully naked Sephiroth. As if reading his lover’s mind, Vincent assured, “Don’t worry, that’s not for work. That’s for me.”

Sephiroth looked away, his face beet red since he still didn’t think of himself as sexy or provocative. As sophisticated as the sketch was, it was undoubtedly alluring to the eye and totally not him. “Why are you drawing me when you can see me anytime?”

“Because you’re beautiful, you’re sexy, and I want you to see you how I see you,” said Vincent before he pressed a kiss to the other man’s jaw, his hands slipping under the waistband of Sephiroth’s bicycle shorts to cup both cheeks with his hands. Vincent’s obsession with his ass never failed to both amuse and baffle Sephiroth.

“I’m surprised you’re not showering right now,” teased Vincent when his boyfriend kept silent with his blushing face buried in his chest. It still touched him how such a gorgeous, fit man didn’t realize just how beautiful he was. In a way, he was grateful of this since egotistical, narcissistic people were tiresome and repulsive to him.

Sephiroth lifted his head to stare at his smirking, dark-eyed lover. Lifting an eyebrow, he nonchalantly said, “I don’t see the point of showering right now when I have a lecher pawing at my bottom.”

In other words, Sephiroth didn’t see the point of showering if they were going to get dirty anyway, which would force him to shower again. In the year together, his OCD tendencies had calmed down a good deal. Instead of showering twice or more a day, Sephiroth usually only showered once unless they had sex or he was just too grungy to go about his day without refreshing himself.

“Mmm, true. This lecher likes you all sweaty and sore from your work outs. Probably kills you to know your precious Yoga mats have more than just sweat on them,” said Vincent, grinning as he gently prodded a dry finger against his lover’s taut entrance, without penetrating him, just to tease him a bit. It was amazing with how often he wrecked that ass, it always remained so tight. What was also incredible was Sephiroth’s healthy libido and his desire to please Vincent whenever he could. It wasn’t necessary, really, but Vincent rarely ever turned down an opportunity to make love to the man he loved. Right now, he had no intention of turning their cuddling session into more, but with the way Sephiroth looked down at him with glazed eyes and that sizable bulge pressing against his own awakening groin, they were going to need a shower really soon.

“Time to go back to the Batcave, Batman,” purred Sephiroth as he sat up and swiveled his hips, rubbing his firm rear end against the large, swelling organ that strained against the cruel confines of Vincent’s lounge pants. He smiled down at his spouse upon hearing the long groan and feeling hands grip his hips to hold him in place. In seconds, he was pushed onto the other side of the couch with Vincent leaping to his feet. Grabbing Sephiroth, he heaved him up over his shoulder like a raider carrying a struggling villager. He smacked the taller man hard on the ass, the sound resounding within the room, which momentarily stunned him enough for Vincent to carry him to their shared bedroom. Once he was close enough to the bed, he tossed the bigger man onto the bed and then rubbed at his sore shoulder, relieved that the heavy burden was gone. A burden he’d happily carry every day until it paralyzed him.

“Totally worth the pain,” Vincent claimed as he crawled onto the bed, ignoring the aches in his body from carrying someone heavier than him. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to carry his lover, but ever since he ate right and exercised more, he’d gotten stronger.

“I agree, you are totally worth the pain,” quipped Sephiroth, smirking as he leaned back on his elbows. He watched the slighter male hover over him, their faces mere inches apart, the only thing between them air and hot, rolling breath.

“I love you, too, fussy pants,” said Vincent, who then closed the distance by pressing his lips feverishly against Sephiroth’s, quickly wiping the smirk off the other male’s face. Two pairs of strong arms wound around each man, pulling each other closer as they kissed slowly and sweetly, knowing they had all day and the rest of their lives to love. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed our Feel-Good collaboration. We have another finished story that just needs to be edited and posted, and another that's a Work In Progress, so if you enjoyed our work together, there's more coming soon.


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